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THE STUDENT'S 
HISTORY OF IRELAND 


By 
STEPHEN GWYNN 


Mew Pork 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1925 





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‘4 PREFACE. 


THIS book is naturally based on the ‘‘ History of 
Ireland’’ which I published in 1923. But the 
necessity of telling the same story in less than one- 
half of the space made a complete re-writing in- 
dispensable—except at a few points where whole 
pages are embodied, as, for example, in the account 
of the battle of Clontarf. Writing definitely with a 
student public in view, I wished to give full detail to 
such passages in a complicated and, on the whole, 
depressing story as could be followed with exhilara- 
tion, even though this involved departing from the 
strict logic of proportion. 

But, apart from these considerations, re-writing in 
some measure was rendered essential by the appear- 
‘ance of several works which I had not the opportunity 

of consulting before 1923. The ‘‘ Short History of 
The Irish People,’’ by Professor Hayden and Mr. 

- Moonan is one of them—like my own book, an attempt 

_ to summarise and popularise. I have profited in some 

-measure by this, but was held back by a reluctance 

-. to use work so exactly in competition with my own. If, 
however, any teacher uses this book for instruction, I 
may be permitted to hope that his own reading will 
be guided and enlightened by their volume. 

Professor Curtis’s ‘‘ History of Medizval Ireland ’’ 
- and Mrs. J. R. Green’s ‘‘ History of the Irish State to 

5 


6 PREFACE 


1014’ are in a different category—works of research, 
which I have used to the utmost of my ability, wishing 
very heartily that they had been available when I first 
attempted the task of setting out in popular form a 
coherent view of Irish history as a whole. Very pro- 
bably both their authors will consider that my mind, 
working without their help, formed certain wrong 
judgments of which they have not been able to rid 
it. But I make them acknowledgments due from a 
learner to his teachers—and through them to the 
teacher of us all, Professor Eoin MacNeill. 


I add a note of gratitude to my friend Mr. G. V. 
Martyn for help derived from his studies in Connacht 
history which the ‘‘ Galway Journal of Archeology ”’ 
has published. 

Other acknowledgments are not so easily made. 
Persons engaged in teaching have read this book in 
proof, and, apart from other criticism, have assured 
me, from their varying standpoints, Catholic and 
Protestant, that it has achieved its purpose of re- 
counting the history without just offence to the 
susceptibilities of either side. I cannot make them 
publicly responsible for an opinion so likely to be 
challenged. But this I may say: they have probably 
realised that I deliberately tried to see the best in all 
parties to the long collision of forces which have made 
our history: condemning only what seemed inexcus- 
able even with full allowance for standards of the 
place and time. 

I am at least permitted to offer my thanks here to 
Mr. W. F. Butler, who read the book in proof, and 
helped me with much detailed correction and sugges- 
tion. My debt to his own published work (‘‘Confisca- 


PREFACE 7 


tion in Irish History ’’) is one which every writer on 
Irish history during the long period of confiscations 
must have incurred. 

Miss Constantia Maxwell‘has most kindly consented 
to my using the maps made for her ‘‘ Short History 
of Ireland.”’ 

I have only one more thing to say. Whether this 
book finds readers in Ireland or no, it puts cheaply 
at the disposal of every one in the country an account 
of Irish history from the earliest times to the present 
day, written by one who loves Ireland as a whole. 
And I am convinced that most of the dissensions 
which divide us uncharitably and weaken us as a 
people would diminish to vanishing point if Irish 
people, North and South, knew even so much of their 
country’s history as is contained in this little volume. 
Whatever text-book be used, North or South, nothing 
is more important than to teach Irish history, and to 
teach it courteously and charitably. 


yn 
July, 1925. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP, 

I.—Pre-Christian Ireland 
II.—The Conversion of Ireland 4 a 
III.—Ireland After St. Patrick—Aa.D. 460—8oo .. 
IV.—The Island of Saints and Scholars 
V.—The Danes % 
VI.—The Battle of Clontarf 

VII.—The Reign of Malachy 

VIII.—The Norman Conquest Wh 
IX.—The Introduction of Norman Law 


X.—The Conquest of Connect and Rise of we 
de Burgos 


XI.—The Decay of the King’s: Cenc 
XII.—The Growth of the Middle Nation 
XIlI—The Rise of the Earls of Kildare 
XIV.—The End of Feudalism 


XV.—The Reformation and the Begins of 
Confiscation 


XVI.—Hugh O’Neill and Red Tato O'Donnell 


XVII.—The Flight of the Earls and the Plantation 
of Ulster hes 


XVIII.—The Great Rebellion 
XIX.—The Cromwellian Confiscations es 
XX.—The Wars under James II and William ... 
XXI.—The Period of the Penal Laws 
XXII. Dien Parliament and as Rete of 
179 i 
XXIII.—The Union 
XXIV.—After the Union 
XXV.—Young Ireland and the Giant Famine 
XXVI.—From the Famine to Parnell 
XXVII.—The Land War 
XXVIII.—The Struggle for Home Rule 
XXIX.—The End of the Union 
Index). 


PAGE 


18 
25 
43 
AI 
50 
58 
67 
80 


90 
99 
113 
123 
135 


146 
156 


166 
177 
187 
104 
203 


220 
234 
244 
255 
265 
276 
288 
301 
31r 


THE STUDENT'S 
HISTORY OF IRELAND 


CHAPTER I. 
Pre-Christian Ireland. 


Our distinct knowledge of Irish history begins about 
A.D. 400, because we have the written accounts of St. 
Patrick, a Roman citizen, born about A.D. 390, who 
converted Ireland to Christianity, and diffused the art 
of writing. 

Ireland was then in possession of the Gaels, and no 
language but Gaelic seems to have been spoken in it. 
But it was a country of mixed races. The Gaels had 
conquered it, probably about the time of Alexander of 
Macedon, and had reduced the older inhabitants to a 
state of subjection. Some of these earlier peoples 
were the Cruithni, or Picts, who, in St. Patrick’s day, 
still peopled and possessed most of what we call 
Scotland. But in the time of St. Patrick ‘‘Scotus ’”’ 
meant an Irishman, and Scotland was so called later 
because the Irish Gaels colonised it and finally con- 
quered the Picts. The Picts in Ireland were specially 
centred in North East Ulster. Another of the subject 
races was that of the Firbolgs, widely spread in the 
West. Their name, meaning ‘‘men of the leather bag,’’ 
may have been given to one class or group of the Picts. 
All that is certain is that the Gaels lived as a ruling 

3 


10 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


race among earlier peoples. Probably the earlier 
peoples were ‘‘ dark-whites,’’ smaller, black-haired, 
and sallow—like the Mediterranean peoples of to-day. 
The Gaels were tall, and generally fair-haired and 
blue-eyed. But the subject races were also great 
fighting men. The reason why the Gaels were able to 
conquer them was superior armament and equipment. 

As early as 700 B.C. the Celtic peoples, from whom 
the Gaels came, had learnt to work iron, in Upper 
Austria. | We know that the people who inhabited 
Ireland before the Gaels had advanced considerably in 
civilisation. They were able to construct the monu- 
ments of huge stone slabs, set upright in the ground, 
with others placed on them so as to make a roof: and 
we cannot tell how this was done without modern 
machinery. They had learnt to mine the copper 
which is found in Waterford and Cork, and later to 
mix it with tin, so as to get bronze: they wrought 
finely in bronze. But iron, when the secret of it is 
discovered, is far more plentiful than bronze, and 
makes stronger tools and weapons. The Gaels, 
having iron, could equip every man instead of only a 
few, and could equip them better. For war, they 
had as great advantage over users of bronze as 
gunmen over bowmen. And for working the land 
they had immense advantage. Ireland was, in its 
early state, covered with forest, and the axe cleared 
the way for tillage: and the iron plough replaced 
ploughs of wood. 

According to men of science, there is no trace of 
wrought iron in Ireland before about 350 B.C. 
Probably the Gaels had begun the conquest of Ireland 
seven or eight centuries before St. Patrick’s day— 


PRE-CHRISTIAN IRELAND II 


about as long as from the Norman invasion to our 
own time. 


In that time, Greek civilisation was at its height: 
the Roman state, which conquered and annexed Greek 
civilisation, was still fighting for its life against the 
Gauls, a Celtic people like the Gael. Rome drove the 
Gauls back, and civilisation spread from Greece along 
the shores of the Mediterranean until towns and 
houses in southern France were in many ways as well 
furnished as they are now. In Cesar’s day, before 
the birth of Christ, Rome had conquered Gaul—that 
is, France—and begun the conquest of Britain. 
Roman civilisation was established among the Celtic 
peoples of these countries: and when the Roman 
Empire became Christian, Christianity became also 
the Roman state religion. But the conquest did not 
reach Ireland. Ireland still adhered to the Druidic 
religion and to the institutions connected with it, 
which Czsar saw and described in Gaul. One of 
these was the maintaining of a class of learned men, 
specially trained in memory. It was their duty to 
compose songs commemorating events, and also to 
recite the songs composed by their forerunners. 
Czsar was amazed by the extent and accuracy of 
their memories. Through these men, history was 
preserved, genealogies were kept—a very important 
matter since the ruler had to be selected from a 
certain kindred: also laws were recorded, and, to 
make memory easier, laws were often put into verse. 
Great privileges were given to this order of learned 
men, who ranked with the nobles; and every chief 
poet was the head of a school of pupils to whom he 


12 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


taught the same poems and records, so that each 
pupil’s memory was a check on the others. 

Through the tradition thus handed down by word 
of mouth—as in early Greece the epic poems were 
transmitted—we have knowledge of pre-Christian 
Ireland. Unfortunately, in later ages when those 
records were written down by men who had learnt the 
history of Europe from Latin literature and from the 
Bible, they were altered and added to. Our best 
knowledge comes from the epic stories, which are, 
like those of Homer, partly invention; but they 
describe to us the manner of life in ancient Ireland, as 
Homer describes the manner of life in ancient Greece. 

There are two main groups of these stories, and the 
first of them centres about Emain Macha, which was 
the royal fortress of Ulster. The great earthworks 
enclosing it can be seen near Armagh: they are now 
called Navan Fort. The main story in them tells of 
an attack upon Ulster from the rest of Ireland, led by 
Connacht. It is called the ‘‘ Tain Bd Cuailgne’’ or 
Raid for the Bull of Cooley. Cooley, the Omeath 
peninsula, south of Carlingford Lough, is now outside 
of Ulster; but Ulster then stretched from the Erne to 
the Boyne. Cuchulain, the great hero of Ulster, had 
his dun at Dundalk. 

Three things mark off this group of stories as being 
of an earlier period. The armies of Ireland are really 
led by a warrior queen, Maeve of Connacht. It is 
probable that the earlier peoples, of whom many 
survived in Connacht, were matriarchal, that is to say, 
women, not men, were the heads of families, and 
could be rulers of kingdoms. Secondly, the battles 
described are of chariot fighters, like those in Homer. 


PRE-CHRISTIAN IRELAND 13 


When Cesar reached Britain he was met by chariot- 
fighting Celts; but the Gauls of the continent, who 
had long been in contact with Roman discipline, had 
given up this primitive way of war. Probably Ireland 
was in the same stage as Britain, and this is one of 
the reasons for believing that Conchobar MacNessa, 
the famous king of Ulster in whose reign Emain 
Macha flourished most, lived about the beginning of 
the Christian era—some fifty years after Cesar’s 
time. 

The third reason for dating this cycle earlier is 
that in these stories there is no trace of the High- 
Kingship or of Tara’s special importance. Ireland, 
in these early times, had five main kingdoms: Ulster, 
Connacht, Munster, North and South Leinster. 
‘*Cuig ctigidhe na hEireann’’—the Five Fifths of 
Ireland—has always remained a traditional expression 
for the whole country: though even in the historic 
Ireland of St. Patrick’s day this division had been 
altered. 

The second group of historic stories is that which 
centres about Tara, in the reign of Cormac Mac Art, 
and is concerned with the deeds of Finn Mac Cool and 
the Fianna, a body of professional soldiers of whom 
Finn was chief. These soldiers were highly trained 
footmen, using spear, shield, and sword: chariots had 
disappeared. And Cormac Mac Art, king at Tara, 
is represented as King of all Ireland. 

According to modern historians, the kings of 
Connacht crossed their natural boundary, the 
Shannon, entered the central plain, and wrested part 
of it from the kings of North Leinster. The glory of 
establishing himself as king in Tara was traditionally 


14 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


given to Cormac, whose date is placed about A.D. 275. 
In his reign was also won from Ulster the level country 
between the Boyne and the mountains about Dundalk. 
North Leinster ceased to exist as an independent 
kingdom, and a heavy tribute was imposed upon all 
Leinstermen, which they must pay to the King who 
bore rule at Tara and claimed the title of High King. 

It is probable that the stories of the Fianna are 
inventions based on the achievements of a standing 
army. In primitive societies every man must fight 
when he is called on, but he goes back then to his 
work. Regular soldiers constantly under arms have 
a tremendous advantage, and Cormac may well have 
spread his power by maintaining a regular force. He 
was, undoubtedly, a king who left his mark deep on 
Irish history, and he is said to have caused a code of 
laws to be drawn up by the learned men and the 
nobles; so that the laws of Ireland came to be spoken 
of as the Laws of Cormac Mac Art. 

The king at Tara ruled directly over his new 
kingdom, now called Meath; but he was superior to 
the king of Connacht, who succeeded, at first, to the 
throne of Tara when it fell vacant. Fifty years after 
Cormac’s time, about 330, the royal kindred of Tara 
pushed their conquests further into Ulster, when they 
destroyed the fortress of Emain Macha. The territory 
which is now Cavan, Monaghan, and Armagh was 
made into the kingdom of Oriel, and was ruled, like 
Connacht, as a separate kingdom, but by men of the 
ruling race who did not pay tribute to Tara. What 
remained of Ulster was still unsubdued: Leinster was 
tributary, though it always resisted payment. In the 


PRE-CHRISTIAN IRELAND 15 


South of Ireland, the King of Tara never exercised 
real power. 

In Munster there were also several kingdoms. One 
of these received the name of Thomond—Tuadh 
Mumhan, North Munster. It comprised parts of 
Limerick and Tipperary which border on the Shannon 
and Lough Derg, and also Clare, which was won from 
Connacht. But the chief king of Munster ruled always 
from Cashel. The family which ruled here from before 
historic times to the age of Brian Boru were called 
the Eoghanacht, or descendants of Owen. 

By a very old tradition Ireland was regarded as 
divided into halves, along the line of eskers or sandy 
hillocks which runs from near Dublin to Galway Bay. 
Conn the Hundred Fighter was said to have arranged 
the division with Mogh Nuad. The northern half was 
always called Leth Cuinn, the southern Leth Mogha. 

In the time when Cormac Mac Art ruled, and from 
that onward, the Roman Empire was fast losing its 
power, and was hard set to fight the barbarians who 
raided its settled territories. Many Irishmen were 
enlisted among the Roman legions. Inscriptions have 
been found naming the ‘‘ Primi-Scotti,’’ that is, First 
Irish Regiment. But the Irish were more busy in 
attack. The four kings who ruled at Tara before 
the time of St. Patrick’s mission made expeditions by 
sea to fight and plunder. Most famous of them was 
Niall, called Nine Hostages, 379—405. He was 
killed during a fight in the English Channel. His 
successor, Nathi (405—-428), died somewhere in Gaul, 
from lightning stroke. 

One of the raids, at the end of Niall’s reign or the 
beginning of Nathi’s, swept off thousands of Roman 


16 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


citizens into slavery. Among the captives was a boy 
in his sixteenth year, son of a Roman official; and he 
was sold as a slave to Milchu, lord of Dal Aradia, a 
petty kingdom lying west of the Antrim Glens. The 
boy was put to herd swine on the slopes of Slemish 
mountain, from which the Braid river runs into Lough 
Neagh. Miulchu’s house and dun were in the valley 
of the Braid. This boy was Patrick. He came from a 
civilised Christian society: he was a Roman, just as 
St. Paul was a Roman: he was a citizen of a great 
world State. “‘ Roman’’ meant then nearly the same 
as ‘‘ European ’’ does now. He was like a modern, 
European boy captured by people who, according to 
his idea, were barbarous. But the State from which 
he had been torn could do nothing to protect him. 
Rome’s armies were completely withdrawn from 
Britain before 411. 

Roman civilisation had broken down before 
Christianity reached Ireland. Christianity came first 
to Britain as the religion of the masters of the 
civilised world, who were then also masters of Britain. 
Rome had taught to Gaul, and less completely to 
Britain, all the lessons of material comfort and con- 
venience that go with civilisation. But Ireland had 
never been reached by Rome’s teaching, except 
perhaps, by the example of her military forces. 
Pre-Christian Ireland was only brought under the 
influence of the Roman world when Rome’s power 
was completely broken; and Roman civilisation, bring- 
ing with it rich stores of knowledge, came to Ireland 
through a captured slave. 

When we think of the pre-Christian Irish, it must 
always be remembered that they chose Christianity 


PRE-CHRISTIAN IRELAND 17 


for itself. It came to them known as the religion of 
a beaten power whom they and their fathers had 
helped to overthrow. It did not offend their pride, 
but it did not enlist pride for it. They chose it, no 
doubt, partly because they knew it to have been the 
religion of those who were the most civilised people, 
partly because they loved learning, as they showed by 
the honour paid to learned men, and they probably 
associated Christianity with the possession of learn- 
ing. But chiefly they must have adopted Christianity 
because something in their own natures, and even in 
the pagan training that they had received, made them 
naturally inclined to be Christian. 


(D 574) B 


CHAPTER II. 
The Conversion of Ireland. 


THERE is no one in the early history of Ireland about 
whom we know so much as we know about St. 
Patrick, except, possibly, St. Columba and Brian 
Boru. And, in a sense, we know St. Patrick better, 
for we have his own written account of himself in the 
‘* Confession,’’ which is the story of his spiritual life. 
There are also lives of him written down from 
tradition, two or three hundred years after his death. 

When captured he was barely sixteen, the son of 
well-to-do people. After six years’ captivity, prompted 
by his ‘‘ voices,’’ he fled, and went to where they told 
him he would find a ship. It was sailing with a cargo, 
and after three,or four days’ voyage they landed on 
the continent—somewhere im France or Belgium. All 
this country had been thoroughly settled by Rome, 
but now Patrick journeyed twenty-eight days through 
a desert which the barbarians had made; so complete 
was the ruin of Rome’s power. After a time he made 
his way back to his family in Britain, who pressed him 
to stay with them. But the visions haunted him, and 
he tells us that he heard the voices of the Irish calling 
him. He was now a young man of twenty-two or 
three, and he set to work to train for missionary work. 
Fourteen years he spent in study at Auxerre—an old 
Roman town—and he was no gifted student. Latin 

18 


THE CONVERSION OF IRELAND 19 


was difficult for him; he never learnt to write it well 
or even grammatically. But his purpose was fixed. 

There were already some Christians in Ireland, and 
one of them, named in Latin Iserninus, from Leinster, 
was a fellow-student at Auxerre in Gaul. The Pope 
decided to send a Bishop to take charge of these 
scattered Christians, and one Palladius was conse- 
crated for the task. Patrick was preparing to join 
him when news came that Palladius was dead. Then 
Patrick was appointed bishop, and put in charge of 
the mission. He sailed for Ireland in 432, and is 
said to have landed, as Palladius had done, in the 
Wicklow estuary, much used as a haven. But he 
moved northwards, for his desire had been always 
to return to where he was a slave, and visions 
prompted him. JLanding in Strangford Lough, he 
made his first convert, Dicuil, who granted him as a 
place for worship a wooden barn at Sabhall or Saul. 
He is said to have founded other churches here in 
what is now County Down, and to have gone on a 
visit to his old master in the valley of the Braid, where 
miraculous ruin destroyed Milchu. But the clear 
thing in the story is that very soon he pushed straight 
for Tara, the centre of power, and arrived there at 
Easter time, in 433. 

Having lived in Ireland, he knew that since all 
authority was in the hands of the kings and their 
kinsmen, he must convert the rulers: and Tara was 
the centre of rule. But he knew also the great 
influence exercised by the druids, whom he must 
defeat, and also by the learned men associated with 
the druids. He probably determined to get the 
learned men on his side. 


20 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


The High King at Tara was Laoghaire, or Leary, 
successor to Nathi. There are many legends of 
Patrick’s coming to Tara and of the means by which 
he triumphed over the druids. What we know is that 
he failed to convert the High King, but converted his 
brother, Conall, who gave a site on the Blackwater 
just above its junction with the Boyne: and here 
Patrick built his Domnach Mor, or Great Church. It 
was only sixty feet long. But the place is still called 
Donaghpatrick. Also, even more important, he con- 
verted Dubhthach, or Duffy, the king’s chief ‘“‘ file ’’ 
or poet. It was the beginning of Patrick’s alliance 
with the learned. 

The Irish had already their own literature of the 
pagan times: the stories of Emain Macha, and 
Conchobar Mac Nessa’s house there, and of the heroes 
Fergus Mac Roy, Cuchulain, and the rest: the stories 
of Tara, of Cormac Mac Art, and of Finn Mac Cool. 
Patrick did not ask his converts to give these up, 
although they were in praise of heathens. He was 
wise enough to understand that these works of art 
were wholesome, not harmful, like the ornaments 
handed down from old craftsmen. Neither did he ask 
them to give up the laws of which the learned were 
the keepers and interpreters. According to tradition, 
he helped to draw up a new code of laws, striking out 
only those which could not be reconciled with 
Christianity, but keeping all that could be considered 
‘* Judgments of just nature.’’ Whether this tradition 
be true or no, Patrick did not try to Romanise Irish 
law or morals. For instance, Irish Christianity 
accepted the Irish custom that the slaying of a man 
should be punished by a fine proportioned to the worth 


THE CONVERSION OF IRELAND 21 


of the man. He gave no offence to the pride of the 
people in their own institutions. On the other hand, 
he brought to the learned the knowledge of Latin, 
which was then the universal language of European 
science: and wherever he went he taught people to 
read and write so that they could read the prayers and 
the gospels. Also, he suited the organisation of the 
Church to the nature of the country. In the Roman 
world which centred about towns, every bishop had 
his seat in a city with control of a district about it. 
But the Irish were not town builders: they lived in 
scattered houses or groups of houses; and there were 
not clearly marked boundaries for each of the little 
kingdoms into which each of the greater kingdoms 
were divided. Patrick settled that wherever there 
was a ruler there should be a bishop: he is said to have 
created 350 of them. But there had to be a chief 
bishop, and Patrick fixed the Primate’s seat at 
Armagh. He ordained as its first bishop Benignus, 
or Benen, the young Irishman who was his first 
convert. 

This choice of Armagh was very singular. Perhaps 
if Leary had not remained pagan, Patrick would have 
fixed the primacy at Tara. Even as it was, Daire, 
king of Oriel, who offered him the site, was a member 
of the House of Tara. But Patrick must have known 
that the old legends made Emain Macha famous 
through all the land. No choice, at all events, could 
have better pleased the poets. 

During the thirty years of his work, Patrick moved 
about Ireland with a staff of helpers. Some were 
craftsmen, makers of bells; some, clerks, to write out 
copies of the catechism and other books; but some 


22 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


were bishops, most of them Gauls or Britons. Patrick 
was training Irishmen to take the place of these; and 
he needed to, for both Britain and Gaul were overrun 
by the heathen, even while he was at work. 

There are traditions of his coming and going all 
through Ireland during the twenty-nine years of his 
mission, before he died in 461—at Saul, in County 
Down, where he made his first convert. He was 
buried close by at Downpatrick. All the special and 
most intimate associations of his life are with North 
East Ulster. 

We have two pieces of his writing: one, called his 
‘“ Confession,’’ the account of his spiritual life; the 
other the ‘‘Epistle to Coroticus ’’—a British chieftain, 
and therefore, like Patrick, part of the Christian 
Roman world—who in a piratical raid on Ireland had 
carried off a number of Patrick’s converts the day 
after their baptism. In both of them he lays much 
stress on his own lack of learning, for which it seems 
he was much derided by educated Romans. 

This is the opening of his ‘‘ Confession,’ 
lated by Professor Lawlor: 

‘*]T, Patrick the sinner, unlearned as everybody 
knows: I confess that I am a bishop, appointed by 
God, in Ireland. Most assuredly I deem that from 
God I have received what I am. And so I dwell in 
the midst of barbarians a stranger and an exile for 
the love of God.”’ 

And again:— 

‘* Was it without God, or according to the flesh that 
I came to Ireland? Whocompelled me? I am bound 
in the spirit not to see any one of my kinsfolk. Is it 
from me that springs that godly compassion which I 


> as trans- 


THE CONVERSION OF IRELAND 23 


exercise towards that nation who once took me 
captive and made havock of the manservants and 
maidservants of my father’s house? I was freeborn 
according to the flesh; I am born of a father who was 
a decurion; but I sold my noble rank—I blush not to 
state it, nor am I sorry—for the profit of others; in 
short, I am a slave in Christ to a foreign nation on 
account of the unspeakable glory of the eternal life 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”’ 

And again:— 

‘16. Therefore in sadness and grief shall I cry 
aloud: O most lovely and beloved brethren, and sons 
whom I begot in Christ—I cannot reckon them—what 
shall I do for you? I am not worthy to come to the 
aid of either God or men. The wickedness of the 
wicked hath prevailed against us. We are become, as 
it were, strangers. Perchance they do not believe 
that we receive one baptism, or that we have one God 
and Father. It is in their eyes a disgraceful thing 
that we were born in Ireland. As He saith, Have ye 
not One God? Why do ye, each one, forsake his 
neighbour ? 

““17. Therefore I grieve for you, I grieve, O ye 
most dear to me. But again, I rejoice, within myself. 
I have not laboured for nought, and my journey to a 
strange land was not in vain. And yet there happened 
a crime so horrid and unspeakable! Thank God, it 
was as baptized believers that ye departed from the 
world to Paradise. I can see you. Ye have begun 
to remove to where there shall be no night nor sorrow 
nor death any more; but ye shall leap like calves 
loosened from their bands, and ye shall tread down 
the wicked, and they shall be ashes under your feet.’’ 


24 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


These are some of the actual words of the man who, 
fifteen hundred years ago, converted Ireland: the 
Gospel Christian who knew very little book knowledge 
except the Bible, but knew that by heart: his writings 
are full of phrases from it. But in the history of 
religion there have been few more successful apostles 
and none more lovable. The Irish poets loved him so 
well that, in after centuries, they linked him with the 
old pagan legends by inventing a story how Ossian, 
son of Finn Mac Cool, went away with a fairy woman, 
and when he came back found all his comrades dead 
and Ireland changed to Christianity, and himself an 
old worn-out giant. So they brought him to St. 
Patrick that he might be converted: but in the conver- 
sations between them, Ossian was made to tell all the 
old tales of love and war and adventure, which the 
saint did not always approve. But in the end St. 
Patrick converted Ossian: it was believed that he 
could convert anybody. 


CHAPTER III. 
Ireland After St. Patrick—A.D. 460—800. 


THE spread of Christianity altered the character of 
Ireland. Before it the main concern of all rulers was 
war and conquest, and the literature was entirely a 
glorification of battle. From Patrick’s day onward, 
for a period as long as from us to Queen Elizabeth’s 
reign, the ablest men were devoted to religion and 
learning. Except what has to do with them, very 
little needs to be learnt about Ireland between 
A.D. 450 and 800. We hear no more of great raids 
across the sea for plunder such as that in which 
Patrick was captured. There is very little mention 
at all of Munster, which was probably the most 
peaceable part of all Europe. In the Northern half, 
the dynasty ruling at Tara had to fight battles again 
and again for the oppressive tribute which they 
claimed from Leinster, and finally, in the seventh 
century, this claim was given up. But the rulers of 
Tara before St. Patrick’s death had spread their sway 
very wide. Their kindred were kings of Connacht: 
and before St. Patrick’s time they had bitten away a 
good half of the old Ulster Fifth. In his lifetime, 
descendants of Niall Nine Hostages conquered still 
more in the North. Briun annexed what is now Cavan 
and Leitrim: it was made into a lesser kingdom and 
called Tir Briuin. Later it was known as Breffny. 
After this a group of young princes, whose chief men 
were Eoghan and Conall Gulban, pushed right up to 


25 


26 * HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the north. The land between Lough Foyle and Lough 
Swilly became Inis-Eoghain (Owen’s Island); and all 
west of the Swilly, Tir Conaill (Conall’s Land). From 
Inishowen, they conquered east of the Foyle what is 
now Tyrone and County Derry—all this became part 
of Tir Eoghain. Later still, an adventurer of the 
famrly crossed the Bann, and made himself lord of the 
Glens of Antrim, the old sub-kingdom of Dal Riada. 

All descendants of Niall Nine Hostages were known 
as the Hy Neill. 

Nothing was left now of the original Ulidia to its 
hereditary rulers except part of Antrim between the 
Glens and Lough Neagh, and the modern county 
Down. But, until the Norman conquest, this lasted 
as a separate kingdom of Ulaidh. The names Ulster, 
Lemster, and Munster came from the Danes who put 
their word ‘‘ stadr,’’ or district, to the Gaelic Ulaidh, 
Laighean, and Mumhan. 

There were then many kingdoms, but of differing 
importance. Meath, with its centre at Tara; Connacht, 
with its centre at Cruachan in Roscommon; Munster, 
with its centre at Cashel, were the leading States. 
Lemster, whose capital came to be at Ferns, was 
tributary to the High King at Tara; so also was 
Ulster, whose centre came to be at Downpatrick. 

In Munster there were several sub-kingdoms, but 
the one most distinct was Thomond, with a hardy 
race of men, who needed to be hardy because 
Connacht always threatened their northern border. 
In the north, Oriel was a sub-kingdom, governed by 
a branch of the Hy Neill, and therefore paying no 
tribute. Tir Briuin, or Breffny, was in the same 
position. So were Tir Conaill and Tir Eoghain. But 


IRELAND AFTER ST. PATRICK 27 


these latest of the conquests soon acquired a special 
rank for themselves. They had conquered, on the 
neck of Inishowen, the great fort of Aileach, built of 
unmortared stone, probably by pre-Gaelic peoples, 
which, after the destruction of Emain Macha was 
Ulster’s capital—and they were ambitious. | When 
King Leary died in 463, his brother, Ailill Molt, king 
of Connacht, succeeded him as High King. Twenty 
years later, Leary’s son, Lugaidh, allied himself with 
Murtough Mac Erc, ruler of Aileach, against the High 
King. Near Tara, at the battle of Ocha in 483, they 
defeated and slew Ailill, and Lugaidh became High 
King with the bargain that Murtough should succeed 
him, and that the High Kingship should remain in 
these two branches of the family. Henceforward, no 
ruler of Connacht became High King for six hundred 
years; but sometimes the ruler of Tara, sometimes 
the ruler of Aileach, had this chief office. For two 
centuries it simply went to the stronger king, but 
from 700 onwards to the time of Brian Boru, a bargain 
was in force by which the northern and the southern 
branch of the Hy Neill, or Niall’s descendants, held it 
alternately. This arrangement prevented the growth 


of a strong central monarchy even in the northern 
half of Ireland. 

That branch of this great family which held the 
Antrim Glens as a separate kingdom did not remain 
content with its narrow limits. Gaels had settled 
themselves in the Isle of Man, where their speech still 
remains. They were also scattered in settlements 
along the coast of Argyll, opposite to the Antrim 
Glens. In 470, Fergus Mac Erc led an expedition 
across to take command of these settlers, and to 


28 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


establish his kingdom on both shores of the narrow 
sea. This was the beginning of Ireland’s great 
colony; within four hundred years the descendants of 
Fergus had conquered all the Pictish peoples of 
Alba; and the Scandinavian peoples who came in 
disputing possession with them gave the country the 
name of Scotland, since their chief opponents were 
the Scoti, or Irish. 

This colony had great importance in the spread of 
Christianity, for, after Patrick’s day, the Irish had to 
carry Christianity back to the lands from which it was 
brought to them. And this was done with the help 
of the Hy Neill. 

Those of the Irish who, after St. Patrick’s day, led 
their people in religion, were by birth hereditary rulers 
who in heathen times would have been battle chiefs 
and law-givers, or daughters and wives of kings—for 
women were foremost in this work from the first. 
St. Brigid, “ the Mary of the Gael,’’ was a princess. 
Born in St. Patrick’s day, she founded a convent in 
Kildare, beside which grew up a great monastery. 
But even more important was Enda, son of Daire, 
king of Oriel, who gave to St. Patrick the site near 
Emain Macha where, at Ardmacha, the primacy was 
fixed, and where eventually the greatest seat of 
learning grew up. Enda’s elder sister had been con- 
verted by Patrick, and had become a nun. By her 
advice Enda went for training to a British monastery. 
The heathen Angles and Saxons who had swept over 
and destroyed Roman civilisation in what we call 
England, did not penetrate into the mountains of 
Wales, and here British Christianity survived and 
remained in close intercourse with Irish Christianity. 


TRELAND AFTER ST. PATRICK 29 


But Christianity in Ireland took on a special character. 
Perhaps because its leaders were nobles, they sought 
to set examples of humility. 

There are said to be three orders of saints in the 
early period of Irish Christianity. First, Patrick 
and his companions, many of whom were Gauls or 
Britons: and these were mostly bishops who went 
about making converts and conferring ordination— 
establishing the framework of a Church. The second 
order was of native Irishmen, and for the most part 
these were priests only, who lived as monks in 
communities which became the great centres of 
learning. The third order consisted of hermits who 
lived with incredible austerity in such places as the 
beehive cells on the Skellig islands. It was the work 
of the second order, continued through generations, 
that earned for Ireland the name of the ‘‘ Island of 
Saints and Scholars.”’ 

Enda, returning from Wales as a priest, began the 
practice of pushing out into a remote and desolate 
place. He was given a site in Aranmore, off Galway, 
by the King of Munster, who was married to his sister: 
and a community grew up about the devout young 
noble, in which nearly all the saints of the second 
order passed part of their noviceship. 

Another young prince was Finnian, of the Leinster 
ruling house, and he was trained first by Fortchern 
—artist-craftsman as well as religious teacher—a 
grandson of the High King, Leary; and later in Wales 
under St. David and St. Gildas. Then, coming to 
Ireland, Finnian founded a community at Clonard, on 
the Boyne. Like all these saints, he set an example 
of great austerity, and disciples flocked to him, As 


30 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


many as three thousand were together at his school, 
where they lived like soldiers in a camp, setting up 
little huts made of upright posts planted in a circle, 
laced together with wattled ozier or hazel rods, and 
then daubed with clay, while the roof was covered 
with thatch or sod. A wooden church completed the 
settlement; and here, under Finnian, learning was 
taught as well as piety. 

Communities hke this grew up all over Ireland. 
They were more like towns than anything which had 
yet been seen. Neither Tara nor Aileach could ever 
have been a town properly called. They had no river 
by them. The monasteries were permanent settle- 
ments in which a great body of men could live 
together. There was, of course, no family life, but 
there was far more division of labour than in a 
scattered people of farmers and herdsmen, in which 
each does all for himself. | Above all these were 
centres for the production of books. Without books, 
the spread of learning was impossible, and books 
could only be multiplied by hand. The Gaels were 
great craftsmen, as their early work in bronze and 
gold shows, and they now applied this skill of eye 
and hand to writing, in which they came to surpass all 
Europe, both for neatness and clearness of penman- 
ship, and for the beauty of illumination which they 
lavished on their manuscripts. The Book of Kells is 
the most famous of many examples. 

In all the monastic schools, Latin was taught; and 
since it was then the universal language of European 
learned men, there came in with it not only the 
Scriptures and books of devotion, but also all the 
learning of Europe. Geometry and astronomy were 


IRELAND AFTER ST. PATRICK 31 


studied, and, in the eighth century, Fergail, abbot of 
Aghaboe, known to Europe as Virgil the Geometer, 
was teaching that the earth must be round—a fact of 
science still in dispute seven hundred years later. 


CHAPTER IV. 
The Island of Saints and Scholars. 


EACH of the Irish monastic communities was governed 
at first by its founder, and after him by his chosen 
successor or ‘‘*coarb.’’ — The “‘ coarb) > generany 
came from the same kindred as the founder. It was 
like the succession of kingship; the fittest man in a 
limited group was chosen to succeed. These abbots 
could not confer ordination. That was a bishop’s 
right, and a bishop was often attached to the estab- 
lishment. But the peculiarity of the Irish Church was 
that these heads of monasteries were far more 
important than the bishops. 

The greatest of them all was Columba, born about 
530, and brought up by an old priest at Kilmacrenan, 
on the Lennon, in Donegal. He was of the northern 
Hy Neill. His father’s grandfather was Conall Gulban, 
who founded the kingdom of Tyrconnell; his mother’s 
grandfather was Fergus Mac Erc, who founded the 
kingdom of Dalriada. The High King of Ireland was 
his uncle, and he might have become High King 
himself. Leaving Kilmacrenan, he was trained first 
at a monastery at Movilla, on Strangford Lough, and 
then it is said he went to a bardic school in Leinster 
to study Irish poetry and learning. Then he went on 
to Clonard, perfecting himself until finally he became 
a founder. His first church was established at Derry, 
then a wooded island in the Foyle. His kinsman, the 
king of Aileach, gave him the site. He went afield 

82 


THE ISLAND OF SAINTS AND SCHOLARS 33 


then, founding communities all through Leth Cuinn. 
Kells, near Navan, and Durrow in Offaly became most 
famous of them. All recognised him as their founder, 
and he became a great power in the State, so much 
so, that, when he quarrelled with the new High King, 
Dermod, of the southern Hy Neill, he persuaded the 
northern Hy Neill to make war; and the High King 
was defeated at Cooldreyny in Sligo, between Ben 
Bulben and the sea. 

Two reasons were given for this quarrel, both of 
which illustrate Irish life at that time. The first is 
that the High King was holding the Feast of Tara, a 
great ceremony which took place on special occasions 
—once at least in each king’s reign. It was attended 
in the High King’s honour by the provincial kings 
and the ollaves or chief men of the learned professions 
—history, law, poetry and medicine—and also the 
ollaves of the skilled crafts. There were sports of all 
kinds, and there were also meetings for discussion; 
and to preserve the peace of the Feast, violence was 
forbidden under pain of death. But one noble at this 
feast, which was the last ever held in Tara, quarrelled 
with another, and killed him by the blow of a hurley 
club. The slayer fled to Columba, who took him 
under his protection; but King Dermod refused to 
recognise the protection, and put the offender to 
death. That, according to one account, is why 
Columba called out the Hy Neill clans of the north. 

The other reason given is that Columba went on a 
visit to St. Finnian of Movilla, with whom he had first 
studied; and he saw in Finnian’s possession a copy of 
the Psalter, borrowed it, and secretly (being a zealous 
and skilful scribe) copied it in the night. Finnian 


34 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


found out, and insisted that he should have the copy; 
Columba refused, and the matter was referred to the 
High King, who gave his decree: ‘‘ With every bé 
(cow) her bdéneen (little cow, calf), with every leabhar 
(book) its leabhareen.’’ Columba thought the 
decision unjust and made war about it. 

The story first of all helps us to understand how 
rare and coveted a book was in those days. This 
particular book was recovered after the battle of 
Cooldrevny by Columba, and became the chief relic of 
Columcille in the territory of Kinel Connel; it was kept 
in a case of silver overlaid with gold, and before the 
army of Kinel Connel (that is, the people of Tyrconnell) 
went into battle, it was carried three times round the 
host to bring victory; so that it came to be called the 
“‘Cathach ’’ or battler. The case is preserved in the 
National Museum of Dublin. Secondly, it shows how 
an Irish king, in giving his award, consulted with his 
brehons, who told him from their knowledge of the 
law what should govern his decision. It was a settled 
principle that a calf belonged to the owner of the cow; 
Dermod applied this principle in a new way—laying 
down a law of copyright. 

Thirdly and chiefly, the story illustrates the power 
of the great churchmen. But it has a sequel which 
proves that this power might easily be resented. After 
the battle of Cooldrevny, some say by decree of a 
synod, some say by another saint whom he consulted, 
Columba was bidden to leave Ireland, in which he had 
caused so much bloodshed. And so, he set out from 
Derry for Western Scotland, the country in which his 
mother’s kinsfolk ruled. The King of Dalriada 


THE ISLAND OF SAINTS AND SCHOLARS 35 


granted to him the little island of Iona, lying off 
coasts which were still occupied by the heathen Picts, 
to whom Columcille became a missionary—the first 
missionary sent out from Christian Ireland. 

A mission to England had been sent from Rome 
under St. Augustine, but it made no progress beyond 
Kent. The Christian Britons refused to have any 
intercourse with the heathen, and King Oswald of 
Northumbria,who had himself been converted in Iona, 
when he took refuge there, sent to Columba’s 
monastery for missionaries. St. Aidan came with 
companions. They founded in Northumbria the 
monastery of Lindisfarne, and from this centre they 
travelled over all England preaching and converting 
the people and teaching them to write. By 662 all 
the bishops of England were of Irish training and 
consecration, and from England students came ‘“‘ in 
fleetfuls ’’ to Ireland as the great centre of Latin 
learning. Armagh was divided into thirds, and one 
was known as the Trian Sacsan, or Saxon quarter. 
Books and teaching (and even food) were given free 
to these strangers. 

Irish missionaries in the seventh and eighth 
centuries went out far beyond the British Isles. St. 
Columbanus, educated at Bangor on Belfast Lough, 
travelled through Gaul, as a scholar and preacher. 
In Brittany he founded many monasteries, and at 
Bobbio in Italy a monastery established by him still 
keeps many manuscripts written by Irish scribes, with 
Irish notes beside the Latin text. St. Gall, after 
whom a Swiss canton is called, left about sixty 
foundations in Switzerland. St. Fiacre worked chiefly 


36 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


in Alsace, but his name survives oddly in the French 
name for a cab. 

During all this time the old native schools of Irish 
learning went on, but they were very conservative, 
and for two centuries relied still on memory. About 
650, a young noble, Cenn Faeled of the Kinel Owen 
(people of Tyrone), studied first in a monastic school, 
and then, going to a bardic school, was set as his 
task to learn by heart long passages by hearing them 
repeated. But at nights he used to write down what 
he had learned in the day; and so began the usage of 
recording native Irish literature and learning in the 
native tongue. Elsewhere in Europe, people at this 
time disdained to write down what was not in Latin; 
and that is how we have in Ireland a literature older 
than any of Europe, except the Greek and the Latin. 
We owe this to St. Patrick’s wise policy of making 
friends with native learning. St. Columba maintained 
it. In 574, he was sent by the King of Dal Riada as an 
envoy to the assembly of Ireland called by the High 
King at Drumkett, on the Roe. At this assembly was 
raised the question of the poet-class, who had grown 
enormously numerous and were exorbitant in their 
demands. An ollave poet went about with a retinue 
of thirty, the next grade with fifteen, and so on. They 
enforced their demands by the threat of composing 
and repeating wherever they went a satire on the 
refuser of what they claamed. The High King pro- 


posed to banish the poets altogether. ‘‘ Columcille 
said to the king that it was right to set aside many 
of the poets, as they were so numerous. But he 


advised him to maintain a poet as his own chief ollave, 
after the example of the kings who went before him; 


THE ISLAND OF SAINTS AND SCHOLARS 37 


and that each provincial king should have an ollave, 
and, moreover, that each lord of a tuath should have 
an ollave.’’ The High King agreed, ‘‘ and each of 
these ollaves had land from his own lord.’’ 

Owing to this encouragement of learning, a great 
deal of writing in the native tongue was going on, 
and Columba himself was among the Irish poets. 
Poems attributed to him have come down to us, but 
philologists consider that they are in an Irish of a later 
date; for the Irish language, while remaining the 
same, has changed, as, for instance, Greek has 
changed, so that the old Irish or Greek is unintelligible 
to a speaker of the modern tongue without special 
study. But both laymen and clerics were writing in 
Irish on such subjects as were already traditional in 
Irish literature, and also on new subjects. There are 
poems not about war or revenge, but of delight in 
Nature, for instance, the description of birds singing 
—very like what might be written to-day. Also, 
religious biography began. A life of St. Patrick was 
written in Irish in Columba’s time. We have not got 
this, but we have the Life of St. Columba written in 
Latin by a successor of his at Iona. 

Saint Adamnan (in modern Irish pronounced as 
Funan) was, like Columba, of noble northern blood, 
descending by both father and mother from the sons 
of Niall. But there existed in Ireland already the 
institution of ‘‘ poor scholars,’’ which lasted up to 
the latter part of the nineteenth century. Boys set 
out from their homes to some centre of instruction, 
and for the sake of charity were lodged and fed in 
some neighbouring household, rendering such service 
as they could in return. It seems that noble boys 


38 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


sometimes, as a discipline of humility, adopted this 
usage, and the young Adamnan went to Clonard in 
Meath as a poor scholar. Finachta the Festive, after- 
wards High King, was riding towards Clonard with 
his retinue when a boy with a jar of milk on his back, 
trying to get out of their way, stumbled, broke the 
jar, and lamented. ‘‘ Three noble students live in 
one house near the college,’’ he told Finachta, ‘‘ with 
three of us attendants who have to collect provisions 
by turns for the six; and it was my turn to-day.’’ 
The prince was kind to the boy, and so began a friend- 
ship between the future High King and the future 
abbot of Iona. 

Later in life, Adamnan made friends with Aldfrid, 
a prince of the Northumbrian Saxons, who was a 
fugitive in Ireland. Ireland, in the seventh century, 
was still one of the least disturbed countries in 
Europe; but its peace began to be troubled by inroads 
from the new conquerors of Britain. Raiding parties 
from England plundered Meath, and carried off cap- 
tives. But when the ruling King of Northumbria was 
killed in battle, Aldfrid succeeded him. Adamnan, 
then abbot of Iona, was asked by his friend Finachta, 
the King of Ireland, to go on a mission to his friend 
the King of Northumbria. He succeeded, and brought 
back the captives. This illustrates the power 
possessed by great churchmen; and in 697 Adamnan 
achieved a great reform. By Adamnan’s influence, a 
convention was held at Tara which passed ‘‘Adam- 
nan’s Law,’’ exempting women from all military 
service, and from being slainin war. The question of 
the clergy was not settled for another century, and 


THE ISLAND OF SAINTS AND SCHOLARS 390 


we hear more than once of one monastery going out 
to make war upon another. 

Adamnan wrote his Life of Columba partly from 
books, partly from the talk of old monks who remem- 
bered the Founder. He tells us of the saint, always 
cheerful of countenance, never a moment idle, always 
discoursing, reading, or writing, as a rule, in a shed 
which was built for his study and made of planks, 
not, like the rest, of wattles and daub. There is a 
characteristic story of a thief who used to row across 
to an island frequented by seals which the monks 
regarded as their property and, like the poacher, used 
for food. ‘‘ Why do you steal?’’ asked the saint. 
**When you are in want, come to us.’’ And he 
ordered a sheep to be killed and given, that the 
unlucky man might not go home empty-handed. There 
is a story, too, of a storm at sea, when the saint set 
to work actively with the rest baling, but the sailors 
at last told him that he would be more use to them 
by praying; so he prayed, and the storm went down. 
Many of the stories tell of strangers coming from afar 
off, sometimes by sea, sometimes hailing the island 
from the shore across the narrow water. It was 
solitude, yet a place of much resort, in Columba’s day 
and after. In Iona, Adamnan took down hastily on 
waxed tablets, and then copied out fairly on parch- 
ment, the experiences of Asculf, a Gaulish bishop, 
who had lived for nine months in the Holy Land. So 
was knowledge preserved for the community, and we 
still have this description of Jerusalem, written in the 
seventh century. 

The general name for a poet was “‘file,’’ which 
means sage. It was applied also to a chronicler. 


40 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


‘* Ollave ’? means poet who had passed the full tests 
for his grade—as we should say, Doctor in Poetry. 
The title was given also to a brehon or lawyer, or to 
skilled craftsmen, who had passed the settled tests. 

No one can judge from reading a code of laws as 
to how life is really affected by them, even in the most 
modern community; but it is clear that Irish life was 
most minutely regulated by laws which were preserved 
in writing and regularly interpreted. The rights of 
property, both for man and woman, were clearly 
defined. We find also cases laid down when the public 
interest must prevail over that of the individual— 
for instance, when water had to be led through a 
man’s land to work a mill, or when a road had to be 
made; and methods of compensation were prescribed. 


CHAPTER V. 
The Danes. 


For three centuries and a half from the time of St. 
Patrick, Ireland had something more like peace than 
was known in the rest of Europe. There were many 
internal wars, but these were no more than raiding 
forays. The centres of religion and learning had 
sanctuary and were respected. There was some slave 
raiding from across the Channel, but Ireland’s 
position as an island gave protection from any serious 
attempt. At the end of the eighth century, this 
protection disappeared. A new power had grown up 
to which the sea was a highway, not a barrier. 

795 was the year in which the Scandinavian pirates, 
generally known as the ‘‘ Danes,’’ though they were 
mostly Norse and Swedes, first appeared on the Irish 
coast, plundering the shrines of Rathlin.  Charle- 
magne, some twenty years earlier, had forced the 
Saxons to choose between death and conversion, and 
many thousands, driven out from the Rhineland, 
settled on the Scandinavian coast and struck back at 
Christianity wherever they could. They established 
themselves on Orkney and Shetland and down along 
the western Scottish isles: and from these bases they 
made expeditions to Ireland, plundering and burning, 
especially the sanctuaries, rowing up the rivers in their 
ships. In 830, they came with a great fleet under 
Turgesius (Thorgils) and attempted the conquest of 

41 


42 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the country. Armagh was plundered, and for ten 
years the invader did as he pleased. He set up his 





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own throne in Armagh, and his queen occupied Clon- 
macnoise, and gave audience from the high altar. In 
short, they tried to re-establish paganism. 


THE DANES 43 


They failed in this, though some of the Irish 
relapsed, and henceforward the sanctity of religious 
places was often violated by Christian Irish kings. 
But the foreigners—whom the Irish called Loch- 
lannaigh—accomplished one good thing: they made a 
capital at the crossing of the Liffey, known to the 
Irish as Ath Cliath, the Hurdle Ford. There was a 
bridge of piles and hurdles at the point where Bridge- 
foot Street now ends, but no town. 

All the shore about the Liffey’s estuary was flat, 
with much slob; but at the point where the Dodder 
falls in, a firm bank ran down beside the Dubh Linn, 
or Black Pool, where the waters joined; and here the 
Norsemen made their landing-place. It seems, too, 
that they set up a mark, for the place was known for 
centuries as the Steyne, or standing stone. After their 
custom, they hauled their long, light, flat-bottomed 
vessels up on land, and built a stockade round them. 
But they were determined on permanent settlement, 
so they built a regular fortress on the seaward end 
of the long ridge which runs from Kilmainham parallel 
to the Liffey. This commanded the Hurdle Bridge 
and the passage by the road Slighe Cualann, which 
led from Tara along the Wicklow coast; and from here 
all the rich lands of the present counties Dublin and 
Meath were in reach of their ravage. So was founded 
Dublin Castle. 

Turgesius was captured by Maelseachlain, King of 
Meath, in 845, and drowned in Lough Owel; but the 
stronghold of Dublin remained secure, and in 853, 
Olaf the White, ‘‘ son of the King of Lochlann, came 
and assumed rule over all the foreigners in Ireland.’’ 

This was the beginning of the Scandinavian king- 


44. HISTORY OF IRELAND 


dom of Dublin, which lasted until the coming of Henry 
II. It was part of a power which extended north- 
wards by a long chain of posts, from the Isle of Man 
to the Hebrides, thence to Orkney and Shetland, and 
so even to Iceland. At its height it held England 
from Northumbria across to the Irish Sea. York, the 
capital of Northumbria, was ruled either by a repre- 
sentative or by a kinsman of the King of Dublin. 
Dublin was the chief seat of this great maritime 
power. 

It must be borne in mind that Ireland, though it 
suffered terribly from the Danes, lost less to them than 
other countries. In France they besieged Paris and 
_ plundered far beyond it into the heart of the country; 
they made themselves permanently masters of Nor- 
mandy. In Britain they became absolute rulers of all 
lying north of the Roman road from Chester to 
London, up to what we now call Scotland. In Scot- 
land, they succeeded in wresting from the successors 
of Fergus Mac Erc some of their possessions in 
Argyllshire and the Isles; and they held Caithness and 
Sutherland, as names like Wick and Thurso testify. 

Yet Kenneth Mac Alpine, King of the Scottish 
Dalriada, though he lost the coast-line, spread his 
power inland, and became really the first King of 
Scotland. The Irish Annals call him, in token of his 
WICLOnYs nine on the tinte, 

The foreigners now began to subject the natives 
to ‘‘ rent ’’—that is, tribute paid to prevent plunder— 
exactly as the Gaels had subjected the Picts and 
Firbolgs. They were oppressors, and because they 
hated Christianity, and also because the places of 
learning were places of treasure, they did great harm, 


THE DANES 45 


destroying sacred works of art and books at a time 
when a book was treasure hardly replaceable. But 
they brought an important new element into Ireland. 
They brought the life of towns and _ sea-ports. 
Dublin, Wicklow, Arklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, 
Limerick, were all established and founded by 
them. The Gaels in Ireland never created a town. 
There were indeed ecclesiastical settlements of 
theirs at Derry, for instance, and at Kilkenny, but the 
towns in those places are not of Gaelic making. 

Also, the Danes established trade centres on the 
Irish coast. There had always been some sea-borne 
trade to and from Ireland, but before the Danish 
period it cannot have been important, since there was 
no seaport town. All the Danish towns were store- 
houses of articles of commerce, and very soon the 
Irish rulers began to ally themselves with the new 
settlers. 

This was especially true of the kings of Leinster 
and of the sub-kingdom of Ossory. Leinster was still 
under tribute of the kings of Meath; Ossory, a border 
State, was liable to exaction from Munster, from 
Leinster, and from Meath. Kings so situated seek 
allies. 

There was, for a long time, no national resistance 
offered by the Gaels to this invasion. Ireland was 
too much divided under its separate rulers. But 
Maelseachlain, who slew Turgesius, attempted to 
make the High Kingship a real monarchy, and it may 
be said that one kmg after another attempted the 
same until it was accomplished by Brian Boru. For 
about forty years from 875 on, the power of the Danes 
was curbed; but no attempt was made to drive them 


46 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


out of their seaport strongholds. Probably the 
trading stations were useful to the country. 

Early in the tenth century, the Danes came back in 
force to Waterford. In 930 they founded Limerick, 
on its island at the top of the tideway. But their 
military power was busily employed elsewhere: the 
Anglo-Saxon kings were striving to drive them out of 
England. In 937, Olaf Cuaran, King of Dublin, was 
defeated in England at the battle of Brunanburgh, 
and within twenty years after that the Danish rule of 
Northumberland ended. Driven out of England, the 
Danes now set themselves to complete the conquest 
of Ireland. Munster especially was terribly oppressed 
by the foreigners of Waterford, Cork, and Limerick, 
and in 965 there was actual famine. 

The kingdom of Munster had been held for centuries 
by the Eoghanacht, or Eugenian line, who ruled in 
Cashel, as the Hy Neill ruled in Tara and Aileach. At 
the close of the ninth century, the king was Cormac 
Mac Cullinan, a scholar and a cleric who devoted his 
main care to learning. He compiled a glossary of 
the words in old Irish poems which then had become 
obsolete and unintelligible, and in it he refers not only 
to Latin and Greek words, but to Hebrew and Danish, 
for purposes of etymology. He also wrote the Psalter 
of Cashel, a treatise on law, in which was contained 
the Book of Rights, setting out all the dues between 
king and sub-king, noble and commoner—a revised 
edition of the Seanchus Mér compiled in the time of 
St. Patrick. Unhappily, this peaceful ruler became 
embroiled in war, and was slain in battle against the 
King of Leinster at Ballaghmoon in 908. After this, 
the power of the Eoghanacht began to weaken, and a 


THE DANES 47 


younger branch of the same line, the Dalcais, who 
possessed Thomond, began to claim their right to 
alternate sovereignty in Cashel, as the Hy Neill 
alternated their rule between northern and southern. 
Kennedy, their king, was constantly at war with the 
rulers of Cashel. He fell in battle, and was succeeded 
by his son, Mahon. Mahon’s first task was to defend 
his people against the oppression of the Danes, and 
he was notably helped by his younger brother, Brian. 
When Mahon made a truce with the Danes, Brian and 
a band of warriors refused to submit, and continued 
fighting till they were reduced to fifteen. 

Then Mahon sent for Brian, and the meeting 
between them is recorded in a poem: 


“* “Alone art thou, Brian of Banba, 
Thy warfare was not without valour— 
Not numerous hast thou come to our house— 
Where hast thou left thy followers?’ 
“ T have left them with the foreigners 
After being cut down, O Mahon: 
In hardship they followed me over every plain, 
Not like as thy people.’ ”’ 


So the dialogue continues, Brian relating his fights, 
and taunting his brother with cowardice unworthy of 
his race. Mahon answered that he would not like to 
leave the Dal Cais dead in following him, as Brian had 
left his men. Brian retorted that it was hereditary 
for the Dal Cais to die, but it was not natural or 
hereditary for them to submit to insult or contempt, 
because their fathers and grandfathers submitted to 
it from no one on earth. Inthe end, Mahon agreed to 


48 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


leave the decision to a meeting of the Dal Cais, and 
the assembly voted for war rather than submission: 
‘“ and this was the voice of hundreds, as the voice of 
one man.”’ 

So Mahon said that it was right for them to go to 
Cashel, ‘‘ for it was the Aileach of Munster and the 
Tara of Leath Mogha,’’ and to seek for support from 
the Eoghanacht. Munster then mustered round 
Mahon, and attacked the outlying posts and settle- 
ments of the foreigners. Ivar, King of the Danes of 
Limerick, called together the hosting of all those parts 
which were under his rule, to exterminate the Dalcais. 
Certain of the Munster rulers refused his order, and 
were put todeath. But Molloy, the King of Desmond, 
and Donovan, King of Carbery (that is, East 
Limerick), willingly joined the Danes; for, in their 
view, Mahon, in setting up his standard at Cashel, 
had usurped the right of the elder Eugenian line. 

The upshot was a great battle fought in the open 
at Sulcoit, or Sollohed, in the Golden Vein, near where 
Limerick Junction now is; and the fight lasted from 
sunrise to midday, when the Danes ‘“‘ fled to the 
ditches and the valleys and to the solitudes of that 
great sweet flowery plain.’’? The Dalcais followed 
them hard, chased them till dark, and, marching 
through the whole night, entered Limerick by surprise 
and sacked the foreign stronghold, which was also a 
traders’ magazine. Description of the booty shows 
what Danish merchants kept by them: ‘‘ Their jewels 
and their best property, their saddles, beautiful and 
foreign; their gold and silver; their beautifully woven 
cloth, satins and silks, both scarlet and green, 


THE DANES 49 


pleasing and variegated.’’ Of the captives, all men 
fit for war were killed, the rest taken into slavery. 

This great victory was in 968. Mahon now asserted 
his rule over all Munster, and took hostages from all 
who had opposed him. When the Danes of Limerick 
and of Waterford joined forces and pillaged Munster, 
he routed them and burnt Limerick. But none the 
less they came back to their ports—doubtless, at first, 
as traders. 

Meanwhile, Molloy of Desmond, and Donovan, chief 
princes of the Eoghanacht, were furious at the growth 
of the Dalcassian power; and they entered into a 
conspiracy through which Mahon was decoyed to 
Donovan’s stronghold, and by him handed over to 
Molloy, who caused him to be murdered—eight years 
after the battle of Sulcoit. But Brian, who now at 
the age of thirty became king, ‘‘ was not a stone in 
the place of an egg, and he was not a wisp in place 
of a club; but he was a hero in place of a hero, and 
he was valour after valour.’’ Having defeated and 
slain Donovan and Molloy with their Danish allies, he 
found himself supreme in Munster, and the Danish 
menace in the south thoroughly broken. No expulsion 
of the foreigners from their towns was attempted by 
him: they were left free to live there and trade. 


(D 574) Cc 


CHAPTER VI. 
The Battle of Clontarf. 


IN 978, two years after Brian’s accession, another 
blow was inflicted on the Danes. Malachy, or 
Maelseachlain, King of Meath and High King (not to 
be confused with his forerunner, who slew Turgesius), 
defeated the foreigners and their allies, the Leinster- 
men, at Tara. Marching on Dublin, he occupied it, 
liberated six thousand prisoners, and proclaimed the 
general freedom of the Gaels. But he did not attempt 
to put the Danes out of Dublin: Olaf Cuaran fled, his 
wife Gormlaith, a Leinster princess, married Mael- 
seachlain, and her son became King of Dublin. 

Then began a struggle for supremacy between 
Brian and the High King. But after fifteen years, 
finding that the Danes were again becoming a 
menace, the two combined their forces against Dublin 
and defeated the Danes at Glenmama, near Dunlavin, 
on the west slope of the Wicklow mountains. Gorm- 
laith’s brother, Maelmordha, King of Leinster, was 
on the Danish side, and Brian’s eldest son 
Murrough pulled him out of a yew tree where 
he was hiding. Gormlaith’s son, Sitric, had fled, 
but made his submission—not to the High King 
but to Brian; and Brian put him back in power in 
Dublin, and gave his daughter to him for wife. And 
then Gormlaith left Maelseachlain and Brian took her. 
It is said in an Icelandic saga that she was the fairest 

50 


THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF 51 


of women, and did well all things over which she had 
no power, but did evilly all the things in which she 
had any power. 

At last Maelseachlain was forced to submit to 
Brian, who in the eyes of all Ireland became an 
usurper. 

So after six centuries was broken the long 
succession of rule by the Hy Neill dynasty. Brian 
marched north to Armagh, where he confirmed certain 
privileges to the See of St. Patrick in its primacy over 
Ireland; and an entry was made recording this in the 
Book of Armagh, in a blank space in the parchment, 
where the words can still be seen, written by Brian’s 
secretary, ‘‘ In conspectu Briain Imperatoris Scoto- 
rum.’’ The new High King claimed for himself in 
Ireland imperial power, as other sovereigns were 
attempting on a grander scale in Europe. 

Brian’s High Kingship is dated from 1002, when he 
was sixty-one years old. It needed more than one 
expedition after this, however, before the kings of 
Tyrone and Tyrconnell resigned themselves to give 
hostages. During the twelve years of Brian’s 
sovereignty, Malachy appears to have supported him 
loyally, striking back whenever some _ outlying 
chieftain set up a little war. Brian’s abode and seat 
of Government was at Kincora, beside Killaloe, at the 
ford on the Shannon below Lough Derg; and he set 
himself to repair effectually the ravages of the long 
wars. “‘He restored and built churches,’’ says 
Keating, ‘“‘and gave every cleric his own temple 
according to his rank and his right to it. He built and 
set in order public schools for the teaching of letters 
and the sciences in general, and he also gave the price 


LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY OF ILLINGIS 


52 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


of books and expenses to each one who could not 
defray the expenses and desired to devote himself to 
learning.’’ 


¢ 


Brian built also ‘‘ many bridges, causeways, and 
highways,’’ and built and repaired fortresses all over 
the country; so that peace was established, and 
people could travel without fear of violence. It is 
noted, too, that he left the historic rights to each 
territory, dispossessing no sept or clan, but enforcing 
upon all his over-lordship—which was the price of 
peace, paid not merely in submission, but 1n tribute. 
Most of this came in cattle and swine—hence his 
name, Brian Bo-ramha, the kine-counting. But 
Tyrconnell paid five hundred mantles as well as five 
hundred cows; Tyrone sent three score bars of iron, 
Leinster three hundred, Ossory three-score, as well as 
their share of stock for each; while the Danes of 
Dublin paid one hundred and fifty barrels of red wine, 
and the Danes of Limerick three-hundred and fifty— 
five hundred good reasons why Brian never made a 
clean sweep of the Danish ports. 

The presence of the Danes, in truth, was always of 
service, but always a danger: and when Brian had 
been ten years in soverergnty the danger threatened 
again. Gormlaith is said to have been the chief cause 
of it. Brian, after some time, put her away and 
married another princess: Gormlaith was not hkely 
to submit in peace. Her son, Sitric, ruled in Dublin; 
her brother Maelmordha, in Leinster; both had 
suffered defeat by Brian, and between them they 
fomented a conspiracy to call in the whole Danish 
power to a thorough conquest of Ireland. 

The plotters sent first to Earl Sigurd of the 


THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF 53 


Orkneys, and promised him in return for his help the 
Kingdom of Ireland and the hand of Gormlaith. 
Sigurd agreed, and the messengers came back with a 
tryst for the next spring. But Gormlaith said this 
was not enough. There lay off the Isle of Man a fleet 
of piratic adventurers under the command of two 
much dreaded Vikings, Ospak and Broder. To them 
also, Gormlaith and Sitric sent tidings, offering the 
same reward—lIreland, and Gormlaith in marriage. 
According to the story, Ospak refused to attack so 
good a king as Brian; but Broder, who had been a 
‘“ Mass-deacon,’’ but relapsed to heathendom and 
become ‘‘ God’s dastard,’’ was fiercely for the war. 
Ospak escaped from him with ten of thirty ships, 
leagued himself with Brian, and became a Christian. 

The Danish power was trysted to meet in the week 
before Easter of the year 1014. We have the story 
told to us by both sides. ‘‘* The Wars of the Gael and 
the Gall,’’ is said to have been written by Brian’s 
‘* file,’? MacLiag; and the Icelandic Saga of Burnt Nial 
ends with its account of this momentous battle. To 
the Danes, as to the Irish, it was a vast event. 

On Brian’s side, the core of the battle array was 
the Dalcassian army; but all the forces of Munster 
were there, and the troops of south Connacht, from 
the territories representing most of Roscommon and 
Galway. Malachy had with him the men of Meath; 
but the northern Hy Neill, the northern part of 
Connacht, and the old kingdom of Ulaidh, held aloof. 
There came, however, a body of Scottish Gaels under 
the high stewards of Mar and Lennox. 

We have no clear description of the battle. Both 
Sagas—for at this point the ‘‘ Wars of the Gael and 


54 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the Gall’ becomes poem rather than history—tell of 
signs and omens. The Icelander tells how Odin him- 
self was seen on a grey horse coming to the Danish 
war council; while the Irish chronicler carried to 
excess the Gaelic love for wild and distorted images 
in his telling of that day. Yet upon one point the 
record is clear. We are told that the fight began at 
dawn on Good Friday, and before sunset the Danes 
were driven back upon their ships, moored off the 
shore, and were drowned by hundreds because the 
tide was at flood. Mathematical calculation has shown 
that the tide in Dublin Bay on the evening of Good 
Friday, 23rd April, 1014, was full at five minutes to 
S1X. 

Apart from this, the account is like that of a battle 
in Homer, concerned solely with the deeds of the 
chieftains. | Brian, now in his seventy-fourth year, 
stood apart and watched it among a party of 
followers. The field was full of banners. One was 
that of Earl Sigurd, black, and so shaped that when 
unfurled it was like a raven’s wings; it brought 
victory to the host that it led, but death to him who 
carried it. Man after man was struck down under it, 
and at last Sigurd cried to another to take it. “‘ Bear 
thy own devil thyself,’’ retorted the Dane, and fled. 
Sigurd took the ensign and furled it under his coat, 
but was slain bearing it. 

But Brian’s concern was with another banner, that 
of Murrough, his son, who went into that fight with a 
sword in each hand. ‘“ He was the last man in 
Ireland that had equal dexterity in striking with right 
and left.’’ Beside him, his standard drove far 
through the battalions; and as Brian asked each time, 


THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF 55 


he was told that in all the carnage Murrough’s banner 
was still standing. “‘‘ Then,’’ said Brian, ‘‘ all shall 
be well with the men of Erin.’’ 

Others watched too. The fight was along the 
slopes which fall from Mountjoy Square towards the 
sea and the Liffey; open ground in easy sight of the 
walls of the Danish citadel, standing where is now 
Dublin Castle. Here, on the walls, was Sitric, and 
with him his wife, Brian’s daughter. ‘‘ Well do the 
foreigners reap the field,’’ said Sitric. ‘‘ It is at the 
end of the day it will be seen,’’ answered Brian’s 
daughter. As the sun turned west, the fight spread 
down from the slopes to the flat shore where the tram- 
line runs to Howth—for all beyond that is reclaimed 
slob. On the left here Murrough’s son, Turlogh, was 
in hot pursuit, and after the fight men found this boy 
of sixteen in the mouth of the Tolka river, still in 
grips with a Dane, both drowned, each grappling 
the other by the hair. All along the battle front 
Danes were striving to get back to their ships, and 
Brian’s daughter said: ‘‘ It appears to me that the 
foreigners have gained their inheritance.’’ _—Sitric 
asked what she meant. ‘‘ They are going into the 
sea, where they belong to,’’ she said. ‘‘ I wonder is 
it heat that is on them; but they do not stay to be 
milked.’’ Sitric was so angered by her jibe that he 
struck her and knocked her tooth out. 

It was at this time that Brian from his station 
beyond the battle asked, for the last time, for news 
of the fight. He was told that the field was like a 
wood where seven battalions had been hewing away 
the underwood and the young trees, for only a few 
great ones were standing. <“‘ And the foreigners are 


56 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


now defeated, and Murrough’s standard has fallen.’’ 
‘‘ That is sad news,’’ said Brian, ‘‘ the honour and 
valour of Erin fell when that standard fell.’ Then, in 
the confusion of the rout, a party of. foreigners were 
seen making their way inland, and Brian’s people 
wished him to fly, but he refused. There were three 
of the strangers in blue armour, the remnant of a 
thousand iron-clad men who came with Broder. 
Broder was of these three, and one recognised Brian, 
and Broder turned and cut down the old king with his 
axe. The Irish story tells that Brian dealt a blow by 
which Broder also died; the Icelandic saga says that 
Broder was taken and disembowelled alive. But 
Iceland and Ireland agree that— 


£“Brian fell, but kept his kingdom 
Ere he lost one drop of blood.’’ 


The battle was over before he fell; and it decided for 
ever the Danish pretensions to mastery in Ireland. 
But the day of Clontarf left Ireland masterless; 
Murrough, as well as Brian, was dead. The High 
Kingship went back by consent to Malachy, who had 
not been so deeply engaged in the battle. The 
Dalcais had borne the brunt; and after it, in their 
weakened state, the rival line of Munster saw a chance 
to re-assert itself. © When the bodies of Brian and 
Murrough had been carried off the field on the road to 
Armagh, where it was decreed they should be buried, 
the men of Munster separated their camp from the 
Dalcais: and on their way south, Cian, son of Molloy, 
Brian’s old opponent, with another Eoghanacht 
prince, sent a message to Donogh, the surviving son 


THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF Sy 


of Brian, claiming hostages from him; for, they said, 
the kingship of Munster must revert to the Eugenian 
line by alternate right. Donogh answered that the 
Dalcais held sovereignty not by inheritance, but by 
conquest, for the whole of Munster had been wrested 
by them from the foreigners when the men of 
Desmond were unable to contest it. He then prepared 
for battle, which was threatened. 

But the two Eoghanacht princes, before giving 
battle, endeavoured to divide the spoil, and they 
quarrelled, and each went home his own way, leaving 
Donogh unfought. 

As the Dalcassians marched further south and 
reached Athy on the Barrow, the King of Ossory, 
whose father had been imprisoned by Brian, lay in 
wait for the weakened conquerors, and demanded 
their submission and hostages. Donogh returned a 
flercer answer than before, and marshalled his sound 
men, sending the wounded to the rear. But the 
wounded made a party of the others go tow wood, cut 
stakes, and fix them in the ground. Then, stuffing 
their wounds with moss, each crippled warrior had 
himself bound to a stake in the battle-line. When the 
men of Ossory saw this muster they ‘‘ avoided the 
Dalcais,’’ and gave them passage. But they 
harassed the retreat and cut off many scores of 
wounded stragglers. 

That was how the victors from Clontarf came back 


to Kincora. 


CHAPTER VII. 
The Reign of Malachy. 


AFTER Brian’s death, Malachy resumed the High 
Kingship, and held it till he died in 1022—forty-four 
years after he had defeated the Danes at Tara. 
This great man is overshadowed by Brian, but few 
other names in Irish history deserve to be so well 
remembered. He appears to have worked for his 
country like a soldier and a statesman; and he con- 
tinued Brian’s work of endowing learning and estab- 
lishing peace. During his reign and Brian’s there 
was one ruler of the whole country. Yet Brian’s 
example led all to believe that this position fell simply 
to the strongest king. For the next century and a 
half the High Kingship did not really exist. The 
kings of Thomond, the kings of the northern Hy 
Neill (for the southern branch was weakened), and 
the kings of Connacht all claimed it in turn. 

The Danes were not expelled: Dublin and Wexford 
and Waterford were still Danish cities, though Dublin 
often accepted the King of Leinster as its overlord. 
Cork and Limerick were made more Irish, and became 
the capitals of the two leading Munster royal families, 
the MacCarthys (by whom the Eoghanacht were re- 
presented from 1118 onward) having Cork, the 
O’Briens Limerick. From this time dates the usage 
of family surnames in the clans: they called them- 
selves after some leading figure. In Thomond they 
are O’Briens, in Meath, O’ Melaghlin’s—that is, ‘‘ Ua 

£8 


THE REIGN OF MALACHY 69 


Maelseachlain ’’: in Connacht, O’Conors, and so on. 

Tyrone and Tyrconnell, in the north, and the north- 
eastern kingdom still called Ulaidh, were unaffected 
by Danish influence and they had no towns or 
seaports. 

The Norse communities of seafaring merchants on 
the East Coast were much more closely in touch with 
Britain than the rest of Ireland, and when the 
Normans (who were simply Norsemen Romanised by 
two centuries in Roman Gaul), conquered England, 
the Norse of Ireland, who had become entirely 
Christianised, caused their first bishops (who were 
Gaels) to be consecrated by Anglo-Norman bishops. 
William the Conqueror’s Archbishop of Canterbury, 
Lanfranc, and his successor, Anselm, were both 
anxious to extend their jurisdiction over Ireland and 
bring the Irish Christians closer into connection with 
Rome. 

At this period, the idea of nations, as we under- 
stand them, was hardly known. France was many 
territories, not a nation. In a sense, all Europe was 
one Christian State, under a system of religious rule, 
whose centre was the Pope. In Ireland, discipline had 
been relaxed; Ireland had grown different from the 
rest of Christendom, though Irish missionaries had 
brought much of Europe to Christianity; and Irishmen 
as well as Roman ecclesiastics desired to see 
uniformity established. Murtough Mér O’Brien, 
King of Thomond at the end of the eleventh century, 
was the most powerful Irish ruler of his day. Partly 
no doubt, because he desired Limerick to be the 
capital of Munster, he bestowed Cashel on ‘‘ the re- 
ligious of Ireland in general.’’ He built a cathedral 


60 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


in Limerick, and its first bishop was a travelled Irish- 
man, Gilla-easpuig, or Gilbert, who had known 
Anselm at Rouen. Murtough himself held long 
correspondence with Anselm, and Gilbert was named 
as the first Papal Legate ever appointed to Ireland. 
In this way Ireland was brought more closely into 
contact with the centre of Christian organisation, and 
under Gilbert’s auspices a synod was held which intro- 
duced the form of Church government familiar in all 
Europe. The bishops, who had been originally attached 
to the tribal divisions, were now given definite terri- 
tories corresponding to the main political divisions. 
Twelve bishops were allotted to Leth Cuinn, twelve 
to Leth Mogha, and two to Meath. Armagh and 
Cashel were declared archbishoprics, the primacy 
remaining in Armagh. 

Yet at this time things had grown so lax that the 
abbot of Armagh, St. Patrick’s coarb or successor, 
was frequently a layman. About the close of the 
eleventh century was born at Armagh, Malachy 
O’Morgair, son of a professor of learning in that seat 
of study. Kellach, then archbishop, heard of the 
youth’s zeal for learning and religion, and made him 
his vicar. Malachy introduced song into the services: 
Armagh began chanting psalms after the fashion of 
Christendom. Then the young priest went south to 
study in the great monastery of Lismore, and here he 
made friends with Cormac MacCarthy, afterwards 
King of Desmond (that is, South Munster), who built 
the famous chapel on the Rock of Cashel. Then 
Kellach recalled him and made him abbot of Bangor, 
in County Down, a monastery which had never been 
rebuilt since the Danes destroyed it. Malachy and 


THE REIGN OF MALACHY 61 


his monks rebuilt it. Then he was made Bishop of 
Connor, and began to work like the saints of early 
Christian times, going about on foot, practising great 
austerities, preaching and teaching. His influence 
spread, and Kellach, failing in health, designed that 
Malachy should succeed him. He was chosen abbot, 
but Kellach’s kinsman, a layman, drove him out. 
This man died: another claimant, also a layman, 
succeeded; but at last Malachy was brought in. To 
show that he had no personal ambition, he went back 
to his first bishopric of Connor, and even this he 
divided, making a second bishopric of Down to 
correspond to the kingdom of Ulidia: and further, he 
cut off from the See of Armagh the diocese of 
Clogher to serve the kingdom of Oriel. Then, to 
obtain sanction for what he had done, he journeyed 
to Rome, asking there that the ‘‘ Palls,’’ or collars 
of lamb’s wool, sent by the Pope to every archbishop 
as a symbol of his right, should be given to the 
Archbishops of Armagh and Cashel. 

The division of Ireland for ecclesiastical purposes, 
carried out in the twelfth century, still lasts: and it 
is the best guide to a knowledge of the political 
divisions which then existed. 

Malachy’s journey is of immense importance as 
showing that the best Irish churchman of his day was 
fully aware that Ireland needed to be brought more 
closely in touch with the rest of Christian Europe: 
but it shows also that Irishmen were helping Ireland 
zealously along the path of civilisation. The Life of 
St. Malachy is written, not by an Irishman, but by 
St. Bernard, founder of the Cistercian Order. 

On his way to Rome, Malachy had turned aside to 


62 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


visit St. Bernard at Clairvaux, and its beautiful archi- 
tecture and its complete ordering of monastic life so 
charmed him that he prayed the Pope for leave to 
spend the rest of his hfe at Clairvaux; but the Pope 
very wisely ordered him back to his own country. 
He visited Clairvaux again, and left four of his com- 
panions there to be trained after the Cistercian usage. 
In 1148, he was sent back again to Rome after a 
synod had been held by the Pope’s orders to demand 
the palls in due form. But on his way he fell ill, 
reached Clairvaux, and died there in the arms of St. 
Bernard. 

The monks whom Malachy had left came back to 
Ireland, with others from Clairvaux, and founded at 
Mellifont, near Drogheda, the first monastery belong- 
ing to any of the regular orders known in Europe. 
The building of it was the first Gothic architecture 
seen in Ireland. All Irish churches had been simple 
oblongs, divided into chancel and nave. This was 
cruciform: the chapels off the transepts are of 
elaborate and beautiful design. 

Malachy’s work was finally crowned in 1152, when 
the Pope sent an Italian legate, Paparo, to preside at 
a synod held in Kells, where it was settled that 
Ireland should have four archbishoprics—Tuam and 
Dublin being added—and the palls were bestowed on 
each. 

St. Bernard’s account of Ireland in St. Malachy’s 
days has often been quoted to show that the Irish 
were then in a condition of barbarism. He writes 
concerning the people of Ulaidh, in Malachy’s first 
diocese: — 

‘* They were Christians in name; in fact, they were 


THE REIGN OF MALACHY 63 


pagans. There was no giving of tithes or first fruits, 
no entry into lawful marriage, no making of con- 
fessions—nowhere could be found any who would 
either seek penance or impose it. Mi£nisters of the 
altar were exceeding few.”’’ 

St. Bernard certainly exaggerated the difficulties 
which his friend had to face. Probably, also, he over- 
estimated his success. ‘‘ Barbarian laws disappear,”’ 
he wrote, ‘‘ Roman laws are introduced.  Every- 
where the ecclesiastical customs are received, their 
opposites rejected.’’ Plainly, what he was thinking 
of was the lack of strict church discipline. It is 
more important to remember that the Ireland of that 
day produced St. Malachy, whom St. Bernard so 
highly revered that, when his own time came to die, 
he chose to be dressed in the habit which the Irish 
saint had worn in his own hour of death. And St. 
Malachy was only the leading figure in a reformation 
which had begun when he was a boy, with the support 
of the most powerful king in Ireland, and which was 
accepted by full synod of the Irish Church. 

In point of civilisation, Malachy desired to bring 
Ireland abreast of what was being done on the 
continent, and it is true that Mellifont marked a great 
advance. But Irish architects, in his own life time, 
built Cormac’s chapel at Cashel (finished in 1134)— 
a little masterpiece of beauty and strength. They 
built also, for Turlough O’Conor, King of Connacht, 
the cathedral of Tuam, the arch of whose chancel has 
six concentric orders of arches within its span, 
wonderfully carved with figures. For the same king 
was made, probably by a monk in County Ros- 
common, the processional Cross of Cong, whose 


64 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


filigree work, laid on metal, is a marvel for beauty 
and intricacy. Neither skill nor expense was spared 
in the service of religion. 

Monasteries were then in Ireland, as everywhere 
else over Europe, the great centres of art and 
learning.  Flann, abbot of the new foundation of 
Monasterboice, composed in this century—probably 
before the Norman invasion—his book of Synchron- 
isms, which set out in parallel columns world history 
as he knew it. The story of the Irish is arranged side 
by side with the Assyrian, Median, Persian, Greek, 
and Roman. Outside the monasteries, there was in 
Ireland, the organisation of Irish secular learning: 
and even the Irish clerics also were busy at this 
time collecting and writing down the Irish epic poems. 
The Book of Leinster was written for Aedh 
MacCriffan, abbot of Terryglas, in the time of Dermot 
MacMurrough. It contains the most important manu- 
script of the ‘‘ Tain.’’ The Book of Rights, the 
chief authority on the laws, was almost certainly 
written afresh and revised in Brian Boru’s day, with 
alterations meant to magnify the position of the 
Munster kings. 

The schools also had filled up. A notable bishop 
of St. David’s, who died in 1098, had spent thirteen 
years of his youth in getting education among the 
Irish. 

But when all is said, Ireland was backward, and, 
in the eyes of civilised Europe, barbarous. The fault 
was not in the nature of the people. They had 
shown themselves eager for learning, devout and self- 
sacrificing in religion, clever and skilful in all the 
crafts they tried; and, in the three centuries after St. 


THE REIGN OF MALACHY 65 


Patrick’s mission, they went ahead rapidly; for, 
having peace, they had the advantage. Later, when 
Europe settled down again to civilised order, Ireland, 
by its position, was remote from the sources of 
European civilisation, which came from the Mediter- 
ranean. Greece and Rome began all the fertile 
inventions in Government. They brought in the idea of 
democracy with the city State, and this never reached 
either Ireland or Germany or Scandinavia. Later, 
the Romans developed the idea of far-reaching 
monarchy, which extended common citizenship and 
the benefit of well-planned laws to many peoples. 
Also, Rome preserved something of the idea of demo- 
cracy in its organisation of towns. Those peoples of 
Northern Europe who came into contact with even 
the fragments of Roman power, found the city life 
existing. They became acquainted, also, with the 
idea surviving of wide-reaching rule, instead of a mere 
huddle of little States. Even by the time of St. 
Bernard, this idea was generally accepted in Europe, 
though it was still very imperfectly carried out. 
*‘Treland is not one kingdom,’’ he wrote, ‘‘ but is 
divided into many.’’ That was how St. Malachy had 
described it to him—yustly. 

There were at least seven major kingdoms in St. 
Malachy’s day. When the Pope decreed that there 
should be four archbishops, he recognised that the 
O’Conor dynasty, whose capital was in Tuam, had 
made themselves equal to any king of Munster. The 
O’Conors had, indeed weakened Munster by dividing 
it permanently into two kingdoms, Desmond (or South 
Munster), ruled by the MacCarthys, and Thomond, 
ruled by the O’Briens. Again, the semi-foreign State 


66 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


of Dublin had grown to an importance that could not 
be overlooked, and it was not willing to be put under 
any other Irish See: and so it also received an 
archbishop. 

In short, Ireland was under a type of government 
that the rest of Europe was outgrowing, and that 
Ireland’s nearest neighbour had completely outgrown. 
Since the Norman Conquest, England was under the 
rule of a very able monarch, who governed almost an 
empire, stretching from the Scottish border down to 
the Pyrenees. It was natural enough that Henry II 
should think of conquering Ireland. To conquer 
territory in those days was a king’s chief glory; and 
it was natural that Pope Adrian IV, who was an 
Englishman, should give the English monarch 
authority to conquer it. For, by a fiction of medieval 
law, all Christian islands were supposed to be the 
Pope’s to dispose of. It is said that this Bull, or 
Missive of Adrian’s, was a forgery. We know, at all 
events, that the Irish kings believed it to be genuine, 
six hundred years ago. 

One thing would certainly cause the Pope to regard 
the Irish as partly outside of Christendom, and need- 
ing to be brought within it. They had taken no part 
in the Crusades, the war of Christendom against 


heathendom. Consequently their warriors were 
outside the pale of chivalry, which was an inter- 
national institution of Christendom. The English 


knight was bound to the French knight much more 
closely than to the English yeoman. The laws of 
chivalry were the equivalent to what we call the 
usages of civilised war. Ireland was outside the laws 
of chivalry, and this had disastrous consequences. 


CHAPTER VIII. 
The Norman Conquest. 


When the Normans conquered England they 
certainly did not regard the Saxons as belonging to 
their own class, or to their own civilisation. Scott’s 
‘“Tvanhoe’’ gives an illuminating picture of the 
difference. But England, though it had passed to 
Saxon hands, was a country which had _ been 
Romanised, or, as we should say now, Europeanised, 
centuries earlier. It had then known a government 
something like that which the Normans brought. 

All governments constructed as the Roman differ 
from such a society as was in Ireland much as one of 
the great stores differs from a multitude of small 
shops. They are more highly organised; a central 
authority gives out orders which are passed on 
through various departments. In the little shop there 
is only one stage in the process. 

It must not be supposed that the Normans had 
developed their organisation to the point which it 
reached under Rome. Practically what happened was 
that each king, either in his own land or where he 
conquered, set up a number of little kings under 
him. They in their turn could pass on their favour to 
some one else. But in theory the king owned all the 
land, and could take back what he had given, and 
the power with it. In practice, the beginnings of 
freedom as we understand lay in the towns, because 
to them the kings gave right of self-government and 

67 


68 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


of electing their own magistrates who should fix their 
taxes. This element was lacking in Ireland. Yet 
Professor MacNeill has said that the little states in 
Ireland were really rustic cities, having a common 
life; and certainly there was in them much more 
freedom than under a feudal baron, like William the 
Conqueror, or one of his lesser lords. This is how 
Professor MacNeill describes the Irish states:— 


‘An Irish tuath, or petty state, possessing a 
complete though simple form of government, with a 
popular assembly, a senate, and a king, with its dis- 
tinct citizenship and its separate jurisdiction, had the 
average extent of a square of twenty miles, with a 
population probably of 15,000 or 20,000. It was 
altogether a rural state, an “‘urbs in rure.’’ The civili- 
sation of early Christian Ireland was the aggregate of 
the life lived by these small rural communities, and 
by the still smaller monastic communities which they 
contained. 

‘“‘Every Irish noble was an agriculturist. The typical 
freeholder owned a water-mill, or a share in one, for 
grinding his corn, a kiln for drying it, a barn for 
storing it. His house was always supplied with the 
milk of his own dairy and the ale of his own brewing, 
with a good supply of meal and malt, the produce 
of his own land, with salt for the curing of his own 
meat, with the bacon of his own pigs, with charcoal 
for the blacksmith. His stockyard had twenty milch 
cows, two bulls, six oxen for the yoke, two brood 
sows, twenty pigs; he had four hundred hogs in the 
forest, a sheep-fold and a park for twenty sheep. 
The gear of his husbandry included a cauldron for 
daily use and a cauldron for the feast, with spits and 


THE NORMAN CONQUEST 69 


fire-irons, trays and mugs and other utensils, an ale- 
vat, a washing trough and a bath, tubs, candlesticks 
—the candles were of his own manufacture—knives 
for cutting rushes that took the place of carpets, 
ropes, an adze, an auger, a saw, shears, a trestle, an 
axe—‘ the tools for use in every season, every im- 
plement thereof unborrowed,’—a grindstone, mallets, 
a billhook, a hatchet, spears for killing cattle, a 
plough with all its outfit. His wife superintended the 
dairy and the fattening of pigs in the sty, the spinning 
and weaving of the wool and flax grown on his land, 
the dyeing with dyes grown or gathered on his land 
and prepared in the household, and she herself was 
a skilled embroideress. His sons at fosterage, and 
the sons of his friends fostered by him, were taught 
the care of lambs and calves and kids and young 
pigs, and kilndrying and woolcombing and wood- 
cutting; the girls were taught the use of the quern 
and the kneading-trough and the sieve. His tillage 
for corn took sixteen sacks of seed. 

“* The king of each one of those little states sat 
once a week in his house to give judgment in litigation. 
The matters about which he was expected to judge 
with knowledge were chiefly the valuation and 
measurement of land, the law of the division of land 
among heirs, of boundaries and fences, of guarantees 
against trespass and damage in husbandry, of rights 
to forest trees and common pasturage.”’ 


Moreover, each one of these little states had its 
own endowment of literature and learning: its poet, 
its historian and its lawyer. These were maintained 
from land assigned to them by the ruler; and each 
had pupils about him, and kept a school. 


7O HISTORY OF IRELAND 


In the more highly organised states which the 
Normans represented, teaching and learning became 
centralised in the universities; and the Normans in 
England were great founders of colleges at Oxford 
and Cambridge. Yet it is doubtful whether in the 
twelfth century Oxford was a more real centre of 
learning than Armagh. 

Beyond doubt, however, the more centralised state 
was better fitted for war. It had its professional 
soldiers. In the lesser organised state, every man was 
expected to fight, but there were no trained bands. 

On the other hand, the loose knit nation was more 
difficult to subdue; because there was no central spring 
of authority to be crushed. It could only be con- 
quered piecemeal, little state by little state and the 
task in Ireland proved very laborious indeed. 

From the time of Brian Boru there had been con- 
stant efforts to bring Ireland under a single ruler. 
But each of the greater kingdoms desired the rule for 
itself. Up to 1100, power was disputed between 
Munster and the North. But Connacht grew in 
strength, and Turlough O’Conor, who became king in 
1106, went far to make himself supreme. He sub- 
dued Meath, divided Munster, and, in 1152, he 
presided as High King of Ireland at the synod of 
Kells, to receive the Pope’s Legate. In a1s§Gesie 
son, Rory, succeeded him. Rory O’Conor’s chief ally 
was Tiernan O’Rourke, lord of Breffny, a sub-kingdom 
including Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan, which Tiernan 
extended over what is now Longford, and into the old 
kingdom of Meath, that was the prey of all ambitions. 
But Murtogh MacLoughlin, king of the northern Hy 


THE NORMAN CONQUEST 71 


Neill, was now strong enough to claim and seize the 
High Kingship. 

By 1161, Murtogh was recognised as High King by 
Rory O’Conor. He received also the submission of 
Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, who was 
recognised as lord of Waterford and Dublin. Dermot 
was an ambitious, plundering ruler, who, in 1152, had 
fought his way to Dromahair and carried off Tiernan 
O’Rourke’s beautiful wife, Dervorgilla. O’Rourke, 
and O’Conor, O’Rourke’s ally, were therefore 
Dermot’s foes. But Dermot’s alliance with the High 
King protected Dermot, till, in 1166, Murtogh 
MacLoughlin blinded his prisoner, the King of Ulaidh, 
for whose safety the King of Oriel and the Archbishop 
of Armagh had given guarantees. The High King’s 
own allies now turned on him, and finally slew him. 
Meanwhile, Rory O’Conor, with O’Rourke, marched 
into Meath, and received its submission: then to 
Dublin, where the Danes accepted him as lord in place 
of Dermot. He entered Oriel, and received its 
submission; he entered Leinster, and forced Dermot 
to submit. Having received the submission of both 
MacCarthys and O’Briens in Thomond and Desmond, 
he marched north to Tyrconnell and Tyrone, and was 
finally acknowledged over all Ireland as High King. 
But O’Rourke could not be content without vengeance 
on MacMurrough; he marched into Leinster, destroyed 
what was left of Dermot’s chief seat at Ferns, 
drove Dermot out, gave half Dermot’s territory, 
Hy Kinsella, that is, roughly, Wexford, to Ossory, 
and set up Dermot’s brother over the rest. Dermot, 
taking his beautiful daughter, Aoife (or Eva) with 
him, sailed from Wexford to Bristol in August, 1106. 


72 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


In 1167, Rory presided at a great synod of the Irish 
Church held at Athboy, and thirteen thousand horse- 
men assembled in his honour. 

In 1168, the Fair of Tailtenn, near Tara—a great 
assembly, part fair, part parliament, part festival of 
music and poetry, which only the High King had the 
right to summon—was held in great state. Rory was, 
in short, more fully recognised as High King than 
any one since the death of Maelseachlain Mor, Brian’s 
successor. 

Yet Rory O’Connor had enemies in every quarter of 
Ireland. Neither Desmond, Thomond, Tyrone nor 
Tyrconnell submitted willingly to Connacht. Still, 
what they could do might be guessed and prepared 
for. But no one had ever thought of the step which 
the banished King of Leinster had taken. 

Dermot had found shelter with FitzHarding, a 
Bristol merchant prince, who knew the people of 
Dublin and the other Danish ports; and when Dermot 
asked for help, he advised his going to King Henry 
II, then in the south-west of France. After long 
journeyings, Dermot found Henry and offered to be 
his vassal, if restored to power; and Henry gave him 
letters authorising any subject of his to aid the King 
of Leinster. Dermot went back to South Wales, 
which lay nearest to his kingdom, and Richard de 
Clare, Earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow, 
inclined to accept Dermot’s offer. This was, Eva’s 
hand in marriage and the succession to the kingdom 
of Leinster. But the first definite promise of help 
came from the sons and grandsons of Nesta, a Welsh 
princess, married to Gerald of Windsor. Her sons 
by him were called Fitzgerald; their half-brothers, by 


THE NORMAN CONQUEST 73 


other fathers, were FitzHenry and FitzStephen. This 
whole kinship of Nesta’s descendants came to be 
known in Ireland as the Geraldines. They were well 
used to war and conquest in Wales, and they set to 
raising mercenaries from among the Norman-Welsh 
barons and the Flemish soldiers of fortune who were 
settled in and about Tenby. Dermot sailed back for 
Ireland in 1167, accompanied by a small troop under 
a Fleming. He was allowed by the High King to 
resume possession of Hy Kinsella, after giving 
hostages and paying a compensation to O'Rourke. 
In May, 1169, Dermot’s Norman Welsh auxiliaries 
arrived—only ninety mail-clad men with three hundred 
archers. But the bow was a novelty in Irish war, and 
the mail-clad knights struck terror. Wexford surren- 
dered, and Dermot gained local successes till, in 1170, 
another band of Normans under Maurice FitzGerald 
and Raymond Le Gros made good their footing on the 
Wexford coast; and, in August of that year, 
Strongbow, with a much larger force, landed near 
Waterford, and the city was taken by storm. Within 
its walls Strongbow was married to Eva. 

Dermot and Strongbow now marched on Dublin. 
The High King raised an army to hold the Wicklow 
passes, and the Danes manned the walls; but the city 
was taken by a sudden assault, and Rory’s army 
withdrew. 

Dermot now aimed openly at the High Kingship, 
but died early in 1171. Under his agreement, 
Strongbow became King of Leinster. But to this the 
Irish would not agree. Dermot had pledged what 
did not belong to him. Under Irish law, no man could 
inherit property by descent from a woman, or acquire 


74. HISTORY OF IRELAND 


it by marriage to a woman, and the nobles of a 
province had the right to choose their king. There 
was a general rising against the foreigners. Fitz- 
Stephen, who had been left at Wexford, building on 
the Slaney the first of the castles by which the 
Normans secured their conquests, was captured. 
Strongbow, with the main body, was beleaguered in 
Dublin by levies from Connacht, Oriel, and Breffny, 
and perhaps also by forces from the south. The 
Normans were nearly reduced to submission by famine 
when a vigorous sally turned the fortune: the Irish 
host was broken up and dispersed. Strongbow 
moved south, but the garrison of Dublin was then 
attacked by a Scandinavian fleet gathered from Man 
and the Hebrides. This formidable onslaught was 
repelled by de Cogan. Asgill, the former ruler of 
Dublin, was captured and slain, and Dublin passed 
finally from the power of the Danes. 

Thus, all the kingdom of Leinster had been 
subdued, with the great ports of Dublin, Waterford, 
and Wexford. Henry II now set out for Ireland to 
assert his overlordship.. He landed in the Waterford 
river with five hundred knights and 4,000 archers—a 
force much greater than that which had effected the 
conquest, yet very small compared with the number 
of warriors in Ireland. He received Strongbow’s 
submission, naming him Earl of Leinster, but reserv- 
ing to the Crown the cities of Dublin, Waterford, and 
Wexford, as well as the country from Skerries to 
Arklow, which had long been the Daneland. 
MacCarthy of Desmond and O’Brien of Thomond and 
the lesser kings of Munster came to Henry and did 
homage, accepting the obligation to pay tribute. 


THE NORMAN CONQUEST 75 


Then he marched to Dublin, and wintered there in a 
palace, specially built, after the Irish fashion, of 
woodwork and limewashed wattle. The kings of Oriel 
and Breffny made submission, but not the High King 
nor the kings of Tyrconnell, Tyrone, or of Ulaidh. 
Not a blow was struck in resistance. Also, there was 
held at Cashel a synod over which Christian, Bishop of 
Lismore, presided as the Pope’s representative. The 
Archbishop of Dublin, St. Laurence O’Toole, and the 
Church generally were present, and they accepted 
Henry as the monarch commissioned by the Pope to 
mes in’ September, 1172, a. letter from Pope 
Alexander III called on the Irish bishops to be loyal 
to Henry, and to assist him in continuing his good 
work. 

But, in April, 1172, Henry had left Ireland, appoint- 
ing Hugh de Lacy as his Justiciar, or Deputy. Also, 
he granted to de Lacy the whole land of Meath, part 
of which was then held by O’Rourke of Breffny, and 
part by O’Melachlin, a descendant of the Hy Neill. 
Both of them had submitted to Henry, and paid 
homage. 

This showed that the conquest was going to mean 
what the Irish rulers never understood when they 
submitted. Under Irish usage, if an Irish king 
submitted to another he was bound to pay 
tribute and give assistance in war; but the king to 
whom he submitted was bound to maintain him in 
possession of his territory. Now, Henry had set up a 
rival claimant to the kings whose homage he had 
accepted. De Lacy dealt with the difficulty in his 
own way by killing O’Rourke treacherously. Next, 
killing O’Farrell, lord of Conmaicne (Longford), 


76 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


which O’Farrell held under O’ Rourke, he annexed this 
also. 

In the same way, Raymond le Gros plundered 
Lismore, in MacCarthy’s kingdom, though MacCarthy 
had made submission to Henry. The Munster king 
resisted, both with a fleet manned by the Danes of 
Cork, and with his own land forces; but Raymond 
defeated him by land and water, and carried off great 
spoil. Donal O’Brien of Thomond, seeing this, took 
the field against Strongbow, who was now acting as 
Lord Deputy, de Lacy having been recalled to 
England; and the High King helped O’Brien. Some 
reverses were inflicted on the foreigners; but the Irish 
always after a victory withdrew. When the Normans 
conquered, they made their hold solid by building 
motes, that is, steep mounds with flat tops, on which 
a wooden tower was erected. Asa rule they chose 
some Irish fort with its earth-works for a site. The 
defence of these blockhouses by bow and crossbow 
was strong against men who wore no mail and used 
only javelins. Later, as time served, they built great 
castles of stone, the like of which had not been seen 
in Ireland. 

After three years of this struggle, Rory O’Conor 
decided to submit to the stranger, and envoys from 
him—learned men—went over to England, and 
negotiated the Treaty of Windsor, in 1175. By it, 
Henry claimed as his own Dublin, with the Daneland 
along the coast, Meath, Wexford with Leinster, and 
Waterford with the coast as far as Dungarvan. 
Rory was recognised as King of Connacht and as 
High King of Ireland, apart from Leinster and the 
eastern sea-ports; while Rory recognised Henry as 


THE NORMAN CONQUEST 77 


overlord of all Ireland, bound himself to pay tribute 
for his own kingdom of Connacht, and to collect 
tribute for Henry from the other kingdoms. The 
tribute was one hide from every ten cattle killed. 
The Irish in the lands which had been assigned to 
Henry’s English vassals were to pay to the Norman 
barons the same services as they had paid to their 
Irish lords. Also, the English lords might demand 
that an Irishman who had fled should be forced to 
return. 

By this treaty, Rory O’Conor kept his own 
kingdom of Connacht, which remained in Irish hands 
for some fifty years: and in name he secured the 
recognition of his High Kingship. But, in fact, the 
treaty was never observed by the English. On the 
Irish side some attempt was made to observe it. 
Rory used his right as High King to restrain Donal 
O’Brien of Thomond from extending his territory 
towards Cashel at the expense of MacCarthy; and he 
called in the Normans to help him. Thus, it was at 
the bidding of an Irish king that Raymond le Gros 
marched on Limerick and captured this Danish city, 
which had become the capital of Thomond. Great 
booty was secured. O’Brien recovered it next year, 
when the news of Strongbow’s death in 1176 induced 
Raymond to return hastily to Dublin. But Limerick, 
like all the old Danish cities, soon passed into Norman 
hands. The Irish had not learnt either to fortify 
towns or defend them; and they had no perception 
how important the sea-ports were. 

It is clear that Rory O’Conor lacked the power to 
enforce his position as High King. Donal O’Brien, 
indeed, made submission to him. But Tyrone and 


78 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Tyrconnell were outside his sway. It is uncertain 
whether the old kingdom of Ulaidh consented to allow 
him to collect its tribute: but here the Normans took 
the law into their own hands. In 1177, John de 
Courcy, a huge and adventurous knight, collected 
about three hundred Normans with some Irish allies, 
and marched north past Dundalk to conquer. 

He captured Downpatrick, and defeated the king, 
MacDonlevy, and his allies from Tyrone. He built 
castles at Carlingford and Down and Coleraine which 
are still standing, and he founded the port and town 
of Carrickfergus, which was for many centuries the 
most important stronghold in Ulster. He founded 
abbeys also, bringing in the Benedictmes and 
Cistercians: and under him Savages, Russells, 
Hacketts, and others became lesser lords. This 
settlement covered most of County Down and part of 
Antrim, and no other region, except the tracts about 
Dublin, was so completely Normanised and Anglicised. 
But, west of Lough Neagh, all Ulster remained Gaelic. 

It must be understood that these conquerors were 
not English. They had really no country. The Nor- 
mans were a race limited in numbers, whose chief 
business was conquest and rule, and the greater part 
of their possessions lay outside England. French was 
the language they had adopted, and they all 
belonged to and recognised the order of knighthood. 
But they were perfectly ready to intermarry and mix 
with the ruling stock of native Irish descent to further 
their work. Strongbow married Eva MacMurrough, 
Hugo de Lacy married Rose O’Conor, daughter of the 
High King. A Norman lady, Petronilla Bloet, was 
married to Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond. 


THE NORMAN CONQUEST 79 


John de Courcy married outside of Ireland, but into 
a Gaelic State; his wife was daughter of the Norse 
King of Man, which was Gaelic in language. And as 
long as there were separate Gaelic States in Ireland, 
such marriages as these were made, even up to the 
reign of Elizabeth. 


CHAPTER IX. 


The Introduction of Norman Law. 


IN 1184, Prince John, to whom Henry had given the 
title ‘‘ Dominus Hiberniae,’’ came to Waterford where 
he and his courtiers insulted the Irish kings who came 
to do homage; and he gave away to Norman nobles the 
lands even of Irishmen who had supported the 
invasion. Yet, among those to whom he granted 
estates were the founders of two great Irish families 
—Theobald Walter, his ‘‘ botelier,’’ from whom the 
Butlers are descended, and William de Burgo, 
ancestor of the Burkes. These people became, 
eventually, Irish, part of the glories of Ireland. Still, 
even the de Burgos always remained Irish with a 
difference. The mixture of conqueror and conquered 
was never so complete in Ireland as it was in 
England. It went very far, but it was never com- 
pleted; because the rulers of England persisted in 
disregarding Irish ideas of what was just. Left to 
themselves, the Normans in Ireland would certainly 
have succeeded in making their rule acceptable, and 
many of them did so by adopting Irish law in dealing 
with their Irish subjects. But they were never allowed 
to mingle the two codes into one. The English Crown 
was never willing to adapt English law to Irish 
tradition, though in England the conquerors had 
greatly changed Norman law so as to reconcile their 
new subjects to the use of it. 
80 


THE INTRODUCTION OF NORMAN LAW SI 


The underlying idea of Irish law was that the land 
belonged to the whole people, who chose from among 
themselves a king to be over them. Choice must be 
made among certain privileged persons, and only 
certain privileged persons had the right to choose for 
the people: but the people made the king. According 
to English feudal idea, the king owned the land: no 
one could possess it except by grant from him. And 
in granting land, he claimed the right to grant to one 
man all of a king’s power over it. 

When the Irish submitted to Norman rule, there is 
no doubt that they expected to be ruled by new rulers 
but according to their old customs. The provincial 
kings believed that they would retain their provincial 
kingships under a new High King. But shortly after 
the Treaty of Windsor, Henry granted O’Brien’s 
kingdom of Thomond to a Norman, de Braose, and 
MacCarthy’s kingdom of Desmond to two of the 
original conquerors, FitzStephen and de Cogan. 
Thomond was far off, and difficult to reach: de Braose 
never took up the grant. But MacCarthy was not 
strong enough to resist, and he made a bargain, 
assigning about a fifth of his territory to the Normans. 
They divided this between themselves, and then sub- 
divided it among other knights—each of whom became 
absolute ruler in his particular district. | The people 
of the country who lived by the land remained on the 
land: there was no lack of land for farms, since the 
population was small, probably not more than a 
million over the whole island. The Normans were 
only a handful, better armed, and having behind them 
the strength of a great foreign power, like the British 
in India. Probably, the Irish did not like the change 


(D 574) Dp 


82 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


of rulers, but they submitted. Soon, however, they 
found that it meant a change of laws. 

European peoples then were divided into many 
classes, having different degrees of right, and the 
Irish law recognised not only slaves but a great class 
of persons who were not free-men. These might have 
lost their freedom through being unable to pay a 
debt, or in other ways; and if their ife was taken, the 
fine would be lower than that for a freeman’s life. In 
a court of law, their evidence would not be taken 
against that of afreeman. But no one had a right to 
kill thern without punishment. There was also a 
great class, probably the greatest class of all, con- 
sisting of freemen, holding land for which they made 
a payment in service—for the Gaelic State had no 
coinage—and also holding cattle supplied by the 
ruler of the land, for which they paid in_ kind. 
According to the Treaty of Windsor, Irishmen who 
came under English rulers were only bound to pay to 
their new lords the same duties that they paid to the 
Gaelic lords. But it was left to the new lords to 
decide what these were: and the Norman barons 
began to claim that every Irishman belonged to the 
unfree class. By Irish usage even the unfree occupied 
land from which, as a rule, they could not be re- 
moved, or, as we say, evicted. They worked this 
land for the benefit of the ruler of the country, who 
owned it, while he was ruler. But the unfree Irish- 
man was, by Norman law, a serf who might be 
punished, or even killed, at the lord’s pleasure, and 
who could be evicted from his holding. Of course, 
this led to revolt; and even in territories which had 
voluntarily submitted, the Irish were treated as con- 


ee ee 


THE INTRODUCTION OF NORMAN LAW 83 


quered enemies who had no rights, and might be slain 
or plundered at will. 

John, who, when he grew up became a wise states- 
man, knew very well the evils of setting up all these 
little rulers, each of whom might be tyrannous: and 
in England he was busy endeavouring to lessen the 
power of the barons. But in Ireland his rule was 
weaker. Yet he issued an edict that the customs of 
England should extend to his dominions. Unhappily, 
this was taken to apply only to the Norman-English. 
English law governed dealings between these; but the 
native Irish under Norman rule were left outside the 
law, except where those rulers either allowed Irishmen 
to purchase the right of English freemen, or allowed 
courts to judge them according to Gaelic law. 

Some of the Normans used the power in their hands 
with wisdom. Strongbow, in particular, did not 
attempt to destroy the Irish state of which he had 
become head, and he settled Dermot MacMurrough’s 
son, Donal, known as Kavanagh, in a part of Leinster, 
giving him a secure right to rule there according to 
custom. But Strongbow died in 1176, leaving no son; 
and by Norman law his possessions and power went 
to his daughter, and she became a ward of the king, 
who was entitled to choose for her a husband. Thus 
Leinster, which had passed into control of a foreigner 
by the act of an Irish king, against all Irish law, now 
passed to another lord by a law which Ireland did not 
recognise nor understand. Yet, in this case, a wise 
choice was made. The daughter of Strongbow and 
Eva became the wife of one of the best Normans; and 
under William Earl Marshal, Kilkenny became a fine 
city. Also, at the point where the Nore and Barrow 


84 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


join, on a good channel for such ships as were then 
used, the town of New Ross was founded and 
prospered. Unfortunately, the line of the Marshals 
died out about 1230, and the lordship of Leinster was 
split up, so that it had not the benefit even of a strong 
foreign ruler. 

In East Munster, whatever hardships may have 
been inflicted, the Norman lords took root in the 
country and became part of it. FitzStephen granted 
to the de Barrys land from Fermoy to Midleton, and 
from Mallow to Charleville. FitzStephen himself 
died sonless, and his land finally passed (about 
1300) to the Roches. Along the Blackwater was 
settled the Norman family of Canteton, whose name 
became Condon. The present county of Waterford 
was granted to Robert le Poer, from whom came the 
Powers. The greatest family of all, the FitzGeralds, 
got grants in South-East Cork from their uncle, Fitz- 
Stephen. Cogans, FitzGeralds, Barrys, Roches, and 
Condons are so plentiful in what was Desmond, that 
it is clear how largely Normanised was southern 
Ireland, and how Irish the Normans of southern 
Ireland became. 

The same process of mixing the races went on else- 
where in the eastern half of Ireland. But it did not go 
so far. In the north-east, de Courcy might have built 
up a strong Norman-Irish principality. But John was 
jealous of this growing power, and de Courcy was 
not submissive, and so finally the king ordered the de 
Lacys of Meath to make war on him. Hugo de Lacy, 
founder of this family, had been slain by an Irishman 
while he was building his castle at Trim. But his 
sons, Hugo and Walter, succeeded him, and they 


THE INTRODUCTION OF NORMAN LAW 85 


defeated de Courcy and were given his land. Hugo 
was made Earl of Ulster, and Walter Earl of Meath. 
Yet, soon again, the king began to mistrust this new 
line of rulers, who proved no more obedient than 
de Courcy; and, in 1210, John came with a fleet of 
seven hundred ships to Waterford to make a royal 
progress and assert his authority. The de Lacys 
resisted at first, but then fled, falling back on Carrick- 
fergus. Cathal O’Conor, King of Connacht, marched 
at the head of his army to assist John in reducing the 
fortress. The de Lacys escaped by sea, and were 
afterwards pardoned and restored to their estates. 
From Ulster, John marched back to Dublin, where he 
had ordered a strong castle to be built, and held a 
court, and it is said that twenty Irish kings ‘‘ came 
into his house,’’ as the Irish phrase was, and received 
scarlet robes, to signify that they held kingship under 
him. The kings of Thomond and Connacht were 
among those who offered allegiance. But the north- 
west, Tyrone and Tyrconnell, stood out. 

John made a real effort to govern Ireland well. 
Before this, he had established the first Irish coinage, 
and either at this time or later he began the organi- 
sation into counties, each having a sheriff or king’s 
officer. 

In this shireland, all criminal charges or cases 
concerning the ownership of land must come before 
the king’s Court and be tried before one of the judges 
who went on circuit according to the common law. 
It was John’s policy to lessen the ‘‘Liberties,’’ or 
territories in which the ruling lord held all the powers 
of a sovereign, subject only to the obligation that he 
must supply so many knights for the king’s army. 


86 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


But in the long run John was beaten in his struggle 
to put down the power of the barons, and Magna 
Charta, passed in 1215, reduced the royal authority 
to little more than a headship among other rulers. 
The feudal system spread in Ireland; nobles became 
almost independent of the crown, and shireland grew 
less and less. In some ways, this helped Ireland, for 
the best of these rulers used Irish law in their dis- 
tricts for cases which concerned the Irish. But in 
the region about Dublin, Gaelic influence was less and 
English influence stronger than in other parts of the 
country. Nugents in Meath, Tuites in County Long- 
ford, have remained where they. got their grants from 
de Lacy to our own day, but they never became an 
Irish clan, as the Powers, Barrys, and others came to 
be in Munster. Also, im the north, de Courcy’s settle- 
ment, for some reason not easy to explain, kept apart 
from Gaelic Ireland. 

The towns everywhere were centres of English 
influence, and sided with the English monarchy 
against the Norman lords or Irish kings. They had 
been Danish cities, with only an admixture of Irish, 
and from the first the Norman kings gave them 
charters which enabled them to raise taxes for their 
own defence, and to elect their own magistrates. It 
gave also the right to trade freely in the English 
dominions. Dublin’s citizens were given at once the 
same rights as those of Bristol: Waterford, Cork, and 
Limerick soon got the same. Drogheda soon grew to 
be an important place, and was also privileged. The 
great lords had the same right to bestow charters, 
and Kilkenny got its rights from the Earl Marshal. 
But the sea-ports were more essentially separate than 


THE INTRODUCTION OF NORMAN LAW 87 


the inland towns, living their own lives under their 
own lords and growing into little republics as the 
generations went on. 

Yet the lords were not Irish lords; and the native 
Irish of all classes found that submission and com- 
pacts had brought them none of the things they hoped. 
The kings were attacked in their local kingdoms, by 
claimants to whom the English High King had granted 
away their rights. Desmond submitted to this, and 
the MacCarthys remained rulers only in west Cork. 
Donal Mér O’Brien, King of Thomond, resisted, and 
kept the line of the Shannon secure. Yet Limerick, 
his capital, very soon passed into Norman hands, and 
all between the Shannon and Cashel that had been 
part of Thomond was granted to new lords. In the 
north, Tyrone and Tyrconnell, hard to reach, 
remained untouched. Connacht also was attacked, in 
dehance of the Treaty of Windsor; but its kings 
resisted and protested, and it remained an Irish king- 
dom for nearly half a century—only to suffer worse in 
the end. 

In short, conquest meant taking away from the 
royal families of Ireland that right to local kingship 
which was theirs by ancient law, and which they 
believed that they had made safe when they accepted 
Henry IJ as overlord. Perhaps this was not due to 
the policy of English kings, so much as to the greed 
of their barons. Each of these made war on his own 
account against the Irish when he felt strong enough, 
and the English kings either could not control them 
or did not try to. They also made war on each other. 
Private war did not cease in Ireland until the reign of 


88 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Elizabeth; and so the conquest by this great Euro- 
pean power brought no peace to the country. 

The lower orders of the Irish suffered by the 
constant danger of pillage from these strifes between 
Norman and Irish rulers. But they suffered also 
because the new lords did not recognise Irish law. 

It is perfectly clear that the common people in 
Ireland, as well as the ruling class, regarded Irish 
law as giving them protection and justice, and 
detested the law brought from England; for, so long 
as any Gaelic State lasted, the people clung to Irish 
law. And as the Norman rulers began to understand 
the country, they saw the necessity for recognising 
Irish law, and they allowed it to run in their territory 
so far as the Irish were concerned. 

But the central government never was wise enough 
to do this. In England, the Norman conquerors 
combined the feudal usage with a great part of 
English law, and that is the reason why their rule 
succeeded. In Ireland, they would never bring them- 
selves either to make the native Irish rulers part of 
the English State or adopt, in governing Ireland, 
those principles of justice which the Irish had wrought 
out for themselves. 

Finally, although the Irish Church had submitted to 
Henry, and had even supported his rule, the Norman 
conquerors did their utmost to make it a Norman 
institution. Under the Irish kings, the great 
ecclesiastics had possessed strong influence, but they 
had no direct right of rule except over their own 
clergy. In the Norman feudal system, bishops were 
endowed with lands, which they ruled like barons. 
They had full power in their domains, and it became 


THE INTRODUCTION OF NORMAN LAW 89 


the practice of the kings to make these ecclesiastical 
rulers great political personages. When St. Laurence 
O’Toole died, a Norman, Comyn, was appointed in 
his stead, and became a chief adviser of the king’s 
justiciars. Everywhere that the Normans had power, 
bishops were chosen from the ruling race, and became 
little sovereigns. Naturally, the Irish rulers re- 
sented this, and retaliated by endeavouring to keep 
Norman and English clergy out of all Irish dioceses 
and monasteries: so that Christianity, which had 
promised to be a link when Henry came with the 
Pope’s blessing to reform both Church and State, 
became a cause of division between Norman-English 


and Irish Gael. 


CHAPTER X. 


The Conquest of Connacht and Rise of the 
de Burgos. 


THE last High King of Connacht, Rory O’Conor, 
having resigned the kingship, retired to Cong Abbey, 
which he had founded, and died there in 1199. His 
son, Conor Maenmoy, had made a great attempt to 
combine Gaelic forces against the foreigner, but was 
murdered by a kinsman, and the whole combination 
broke up. Then came long disputes and struggles for 
rule, and the English made attacks; but Cathal Crov- 
derg, who assisted John against the de Lacys, 
remained in power over all Connacht till he died in 
Laney 

John had granted to William de Burgo the lordship 
of Connacht—meaning, as all these grants did, when 
he could take it. Wiuilliam’s power got no further than 
his settlement on the Limerick bank of the Shannon 
in the territory afterwards called Clan William. But 
he married the daughter of Donal O’Brien, King of 
Thomond, and died in 1206, leaving a young son, 
Richard, who had the backing of his uncle, Hubert 
de Burgh, then the chief man in England. Richard 
became Justiciar of Ireland in 1228. But he had lost 
this post before 1235, when, allied with the de Lacys 
and Fitzgeralds, he undertook the conquest of Con- 
nacht—assisted by the contentions between the 
O’Conors themselves. Any great change in the 

90 


THE CONQUEST OF CONNACHT Ol 


institutions of a country demoralises the inhabitants, 
and from the time of the Norman invasion, in every 
royal Irish house claimants for power were fighting 
for their own interest. The case is not exceptional: 
in the last fifteen years, the French have conquered 
Morocco by the same policy of coming in to support 
the claim of one Moorish pretender against another, 
both for the central rule and the rule of districts. 

Richard de Burgo made his chief settlement in the 
plains south-east of Galway which have been called 
Clan Rickard ever since. Very little except Ros- 
common was left to the O’Conors, and the whole 
country was parcelled out among the Norman lords, 
whose names have since become Irish. Piers de 
Bermingham got part of West Sligo and part of North 
Mayo. His descendants were known as MacPhiarais 
or Pearse. Even the O’Conors had granted land to a 
Norman knight, Jocelyn de Angulo, who was called in 
Irish Mac Coisdealbh. From him came the Costellos 
and the Nangles. 

This was the conquest of Connacht. It was made 
when the English crown was weak, and the conquerors 
had no intention of allowing the king’s law to come 
into it. They ruled it as kings in their own right. The 
settlement was very thin, and practically all Connacht 
under Norman rulers remained Gaelic. William de 
Burgo had married the daughter of Donal Mér 
O’Brien, so even the conqueror of Connacht was half 
Irish. 

In return for help, Richard de Burgo granted lands 
in the north of Connacht to de Lacy, who bargained 
them to Maurice Fitzgerald, baron of Naas. The 
branch of the Geraldines established in Kildare began 


g2 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


to grow immensely in power after the reign of John; 
and from his holding in Sligo, Maurice Fitzgerald 
projected the conquest of Tyrconnell. He built 
a castle at Sligo, and castles to command the fords 
of «the Erne. Moreover, de Lacy, Earl of Ulstem 
was threatening Tyrone from the east. He had a 
town and fortress at Coleraine near the Bann mouth; 
and in the old kingdom of Ulaidh, he flanked O’Neill’s 
territory along the whole line of the Bann. Thus, 
from east and west Norman conquest pressed in on 
the two unsubdued Ulster kingdoms. 

Meantime, the other branch of the Geraldines was 
spreading rapidly in the south; and, in 1239, John, 
surnamed FitzThomas, got a grant of all Déisi—that 
is, County Waterford—and of Desmond, including all 
Cork and Kerry. In Limerick, he was already estab- 
lished on the Lower Shannon, and from here he spread 
a line of castles along the sea coast of Kerry and 
West Cork, insinuating himself in the usual way by 
supporting some local claimant for power. For in this 
south coast there was much confusion. The 
O’Sullivans, who originally held a territory near 
Cashel, had been pushed out by the Normans, and, 
going west, imposed their rule upon other Gaels. 

Thus, by 1250, while the whole of eastern Ireland 
had been conquered, and in great part colonised, all 
the west was threatened with the same fate. 

Yet, in 1258, a great confederacy of the Irish was 
formed, and the representatives of the O’Conors, of 
the O’Briens, and of the O’Donnells agreed to recog- 
nise Brian O’Neill as High King, and to restore the 
Gaelic monarchy. The Irish had also strengthened 
themselves in a new manner. One of the ruling 


THE CONQUEST OF CONNACHT 03 


O’Donnells had been reared in Gaelic Scotland, and 
had there married a lady of the Clann Suibhne: and he 
returned to Tyrconnell attended by a force of Scot- 
tish soldiery—gall-dglaigh (foreign soldiers)—who 
assisted him in many conquests. The Clann Suibhne 
or Sweeney, now became settled in Tyrconnell, and 
while the Gaelic order lasted, were its chief fighting 
men. This O’Donnell, after his first wife’s death, 
married one of the MacDonnells, Lords of the Isles, 
who held Rathlin as well as the Scottish islands; and 
they also helped him with professional soldiers. The 
ruling O’Conor followed this example, and, marrying 
another lady of the MacDonnells, got eight score 
gallowglasses (as they came to be called) in her 
dower. This new element of professional soldiery 
did much to diminish the superiority which the mail- 
clad Normans still held over the Irish. 

Yet, when Brian O’Neill as High King called out a 
hosting to attack the foreigners in Ulster, only 
Connacht joined him. O’Donnell and O’Brien stayed 
away; and, outside the stronghold of Down the Irish 
army was defeated by a levy of the colonists of de_ 
Courcy’s Ulster earldom. Brian O’Neill was slain. 
Yet it was a serious attack, and the defeated fought 
valiantly. The aggression in North West Ulster was 
checked, and O’Donnell, on his own account, pushed 
war across the Erne against the part of Sligo that 
had been granted to Fitzgerald. 

Also in another quarter, the Geraldine power was 
set back. Finian MacCarthy rose against them, des- 
troyed six castles in the west, and when John Fitz- 
Thomas came down backed by the Justiciar, or Lord 
Deputy, with a royal army, the Gaels met them at 


94 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Callan in the valley of the Roughty, near Kenmare, 
and inflicted the first great defeat that the invaders 


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had known. John FitzThomas and his son were 
slain, with eight barons and twenty-five knights. 
But there was left a boy-child, son of Maurice, called 


THE CONQUEST OF CONNACHT Q5 


Thomas an Apa, because a monkey had saved him 
from fire in the castle at Tralee: and the fortunes of 
the southern Geraldines, afterwards Earls. of 
Desmond, grew up about him, so that they had an 
ape on their coat of arms. 

Finian MacCarthy was killed the same year trying 
to destroy Ringrone Castle in Kinsale harbour: but 
the MacCarthy line established its hold strongly in all 
of West Cork, from Blarney and Mallow to Bantry. 

Thus, nearly a hundred years after the conquest, 
the Irish rulers had definitely given up as hopeless 
their original idea of submitting to the King of 
England as a High King of Ireland who would leave 
them their local rights. But they had also given up 
as hopeless the idea of sinking their jealousies and 
combining under one Irish leader as monarch. The 
kings of Norway still held the Hebrides and the 
Orkneys; and, in 1263, envoys from the Irish besought 
King Haakon, then lying with a fleet off the west of 
Scotland, to come and deliver them from the English 
thraldom and be their sovereign and_ overlord. 
Haakon parleyed, but meantime was defeated by the 
Scots, lost the Hebrides, and died that year. The 
MacDonnells of the Isles, already closely linked with 
Ireland, now became free of their allegiance to 
Norway, and were almost an independent kingdom. 

Yet now a new power, different in kind to any that 
had yet been known, began to rise in Ireland. The 
two de Lacys, Earls of Ulster and Meath, had died 
without male heirs, and the heiress of one had 
married Richard de Burgo’s son, Walter, lord of most 
of Connacht. In 1264 Walter was made Earl of Ulster 
by the king, and he ruled from Carrickfergus to 


96 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Galway. Yet he met with resistance, and was routed 
by Aedh O’Conor and Turlough O’Brien at Ath-an- 
_ Chip, a ford near Carrick-on-Shannon. A year later, 
he died, leaving his son, another Richard, heir to all 
his possessions. This Richard came to be known as 
the Red Earl. But he was only 14 at his father’s 
death, and the rule of Connacht fell to Earl Walter’s 
brother, known as Sir William Liath (the Grey). When 
the Red Earl came of age he found that by Irish 
custom Sir William was the chief, and he left him 
supreme in Connacht. But he claimed all Connacht, 
all Ulster, and held also the original de Burgo grant 
in Limerick and Tipperary, centring round Castle 
Connell—later known as Clan William. Even in 
Tyrone he gained a foothold, establishing castles in 
Inishowen and in the monastic settlement of Derry— 
places which could be reached by sea. This was a 
greater power than any Norman house had yet held 
in Ireland—its territory was peopled almost entirely 
by native Irish; and in Connacht William Liath was 
really lord by native Irish usage. 

From 1272 to 1306, all dominions of the English 
Crown were aware that a strong king, Edward I, was 
in power; and his aim was to strengthen the 
monarchy, to spread the common law, and to lessen 
the petty suzerainties of great nobles. But he had 
too much on his hands with war in Scotland and war 
in Wales. The Irish petitioned him to extend to them 
the liberties and laws of the English, but the Anglo- 
Irish nobles resisted, and Edward let them have their 
way, so far as the west was concerned. 

He did more. He added new trouble by granting to 
Thomas de Clare the ‘£ whole land of Thomond,’’ and 


—< 


THE CONQUEST OF CONNACHT 07 


the O’Brien country was torn to pieces for fifty years 
by a terrible struggle. De Clare was helped by feuds 
between rival claimants for the kingship, and he may 
be said to have completed for a time the conquest of 
Thomond. Yet this conquest in county Clare was 
blotted out before long. 

It was only in the east that King Edward’s power 
was exercised directly, chiefly by Sir John Wogan, 
who was Justiciar from 1295 to 1307. In 1297, he 
summoned what was really the first Anglo-Irish 
Parliament. Archbishops, bishops, abbots, and 
priors; earls, barons, and other nobles: two knights 
chosen to represent each of the shires of Dublin, 
Louth, and Kildare, Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, 
Limerick, Kerry, and Roscommon: two representa- 
tives each of the Liberties of Meath, Wexford, Carlow, 
Kilkenny, and Ulster—these made the assembly. 
(A ‘‘Liberty’’ was a territory in which the local lord was 
supreme, exercising justice through his seneschal.) 
No native Irish attended except, possibly, among 
the ecclesiastics. And this Parliament passed a 
decree that subjects who wished not to be treated as 
Irish must not wear Irish dress, nor their hair long in 
the Irish fashion: otherwise they would be treated as 
Irish—that is, as people outside English law. But no 
Irish who were at peace, or who had made a truce 
with any English authority, were to be molested. 

In 1310, when Wogan was again Justiciar (1309— 
1312) a more carefully constituted Parliament was 
held at Kilkenny. It consisted of eighty-eight 
magnates summoned personally (as peers) and two 
knights from each shire, with two members from 
each of several towns. This Parliament decreed that 


98 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


no ‘‘merus Hibernicus,’’? that is, no Irishman of 
unmixed blood, should be received into any religious 
order among the English in the ‘‘ land of peace ’’ in 
any part of Ireland. 

There was no representative of Clare, nor any of 
Connacht, and only two for the whole of Ulster. 
But’ in 1301, O’Conor, O’Neill, O’Brien, ‘and 
MacCarthy had been summoned to help in Edward’s 
Scottish wars. Great quantities of food supplies and 
two thousand hogsheads of wine were ordered to be 
sent from Ireland to provision the armies. 

Except in Tyrconnell, one may say that the rule of 
Edward I was recognised and submitted to in every 
part of Ireland in some shape. It is clear also that 
the governing race, which had now definitely become 
English, began to fear that parts of it might become 
Irish rather than English. This very soon happened. 
Part of the conquering power desired to draw the two 
races together: part desired to keep them separate. 
And the Anglo-Irish Parliament from the first was for 
separation. English law was regarded as a privilege 
to be reserved for the English: it was in the interest 
of grasping men to keep the ‘‘ mere Irish ’’ outside 
its protection. This accounts for what happened as 
soon as the strong king, Edward I was succeeded by 
the weak one, Edward II. 


CHAPTER XT 


The Decay of the King’s Authority. 


By the end of the reign of Edward I, the Anglo- 
Norman conquest had reached its greatest extent. 
The O’Briens were curbed by the de Clares. Virtually 
all Connacht and Ulster were in the hands of the Red 
Earl, Richard de Burgo, who, in 1286, took hostages 
from both Kinel Connell and Kinel Owen (as the ruling 
clans of Tyrone and Tyrconnell were called. In the 
settled east, a Parliament had been established and 
the king’s law spread. 

Yet already the seeds of new trouble were sprout- 
ing. The new lords were growing Irish in their ideas. 
One of the ideas in English law which the Irish could 
least accept was that of succession to a female ruler. 
Another was the idea of feudal law that all land 
belonged to the king, and was held through direct 
grant from him to a ruler to whom he delegated his 
power. Where the king’s law prevailed in the shires, 
the king’s courts sat, and the king’s law alone ran. 
But in the great fiefs, or ‘‘ liberties,’’ the lord of the 
fief was in the king’s place: the courts were his 
courts. When such a ruler died, leaving no male 
heirs, his daughter inherited; but the king had a right 
to bestow her hand on whom he chose, and with her 
hand the lordship. The Irish could not understand 
this at all. They held that rule ought to pass in the 

99 


100 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


male kindred; and they held also that the land 
belonged, not to any monarch, but, in a general way, 
to the people of the land. They resented the rule of 
strangers replacing that of the lords to whom they 
had become accustomed. The Norman rulers living 
among the Irish, speaking Irish, began to share this 
resentment. Rule was more and more divided among 
their male kindred. The heritage of the de Lacys 
had, by English law, passed to other names. But there 
were men of the de Lacy name in Ireland who thought 
themselves entitled to what the earlier de Lacys had 
held, and they were discontented and disaffected. 
The de Burgos were still in full power. They had 
gained Ulster by marriage. But the Red Earl was 
making his seat in Ulster, and handing over Connacht 
to be ruled by his father’s brother, William Liath, 
who had married a daughter of the ruling O’Brien. 

Also, the Red Earl was making alliances for his 
house in a new quarter. His daughter had married 
Robert Bruce, and his sister was also the wife of a 
Scots noble—even when Scotland and England were 
at war. 

In 1314, the battle of Bannockburn was fought, 
and next year, Edward Bruce, brother of the vic- 
torious king, invaded Ireland. On their mother’s 
side, the Bruces traced descent from Fergus Mac 
Erc, the founder of the Gaelic colony from which the 
Scots kingdom grew. The invading force included 
Sir John Bisset, one of the Norman Welsh family 
settled on the Antrim coast, who had intermarried 
with the MacDonalds. They were soon joined by 
Donal O’Neill, King of Tyrone, son of Brian of the 
battle of Down; and before long by the two de Lacys. 


THE DECAY OF THE KING’S AUTHORITY IOI 


Landing at Larne, Bruce marched south, invested 
Carrickfergus, and captured Dundalk. Then the Red 
Earl withstood him and was defeated at Connor. Sir 
William Liath was captured in this fight. Bruce 
penetrated into Meath, and wintered there; and, in 
13160, he was proclaimed High King of Ireland at 
Dundalk, Donal O’Neill resigning his claim. Once 
more the Irish kings accepted the idea of a High 
King from overseas. 


In the West a new effort was made. Felim O’Conor 
was declared King of Connacht, and raised a great 
hosting which included O’Melachlin of Meath, 
O’Rourke of Breffny, O’Kelly of Hy Many (on the 
border between Connacht and Thomond), and Donough 
O’Brien, who claimed to be King of Thomond. (But 
his rival Murtough took the other side.) Felim had 
succeeded in killing off several of the lesser Norman 
barons in North Mayo. The most powerful ruler, 
William Liath de Burgo, was a prisoner in Scotland. 
The Red Earl, seeing the danger, ransomed his kins- 
man, who hastened back to take command, and with 
Richard de Bermingham of Athenry, William the Grey 
raised a levy of settlers; and outside Athenry, Gael 
and Anglo-Norman fought it out in August, 1310. 
And once more the foreigner conquered. Felim 
O’Conor was slain, and fifty-six other chiefs. 

But the Anglo-Normans could not defeat the Scots, 
probably the most formidable soldiers of that day, and 
Robert Bruce joined his brother and they marched on 
Dublin. But the city withstood them. First and last, 
the towns stood by the English monarchy to which they 
owed their rights. The Red Earl was in Dublin, but 
the burghers, distrusting him, made him a prisoner: 


102 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


and their firm defence drove off the Bruces who fell 
back on Ulster—near their base in Scotland. 

In 1317, O’Neill and the Irish kings sent to the 
Pope a formal Remonstrance, declaring that they had 
accepted Edward Bruce as their king, and giving their 
reasons. They recognised that Henry II had come to 
Ireland with the Pope’s mandate, but they explained 
this by saying that English prejudice had ‘ blinded 
the vision ’’ of Adrian IV, who gave the authorisation. 

Yet their argument was not that the Pope had no 
right to authorise the conquest, but rather that the 
English conquerors had not fulfilled the conditions of 
the papal Bull. They had destroyed where they were 
sent to civilise. They had curtailed and plundered 
the Church. ‘‘ Our bishops are indiscriminately 
arrested, yet are so slavishly timid that they never 
venture to complain to your Holiness.’’ As to the 
people, ‘‘ they have deprived them of the written laws 
according to which they have been governed for the 
most part in the past, and have introduced infamous 
new laws.’’? Then follow detailed grounds of com- 
plaint, of which the chief were: 

1. Every Irishman may be summoned at law, but 
no Irishman except a bishop may summon another 
person before an English court. 

2. No penalty is enforced for killing an Irishman; 
rather, the slayer is rewarded if the slain is noble. 

3. Many perfidious murders have been committed 
on guests. It is generally asserted that to kill an 
Irishman is no more than to kill a dog—and even 
monks have been known to say this and act on it. 
The whole English population in Ireland regard it as 
allowable to take anything they can from an Irishman. 


THE DECAY OF THE KING’S AUTHORITY 103 


Then comes a notable passage: 

*“ It is these people who by their deceitful scheming 
have alienated us from the monarchs of England, 
hindering us from holding our lands as voluntary 
tenants immediately under these princes, between 
whom and us they are now sowing everlasting dis- 
cords (especially between brothers and kinsmen) to 
get possession of our lands.’’ 

O’Neill adds that a letter had been addressed to 
the king in council praying that the Irish princes 
should hold their land directly of him ‘‘ according to 
the Bull of Adrian ’’; or that he should himself divide 
the land ‘‘ according to some reasonable method ”’ 
between them and the English invaders. No answer 
had been returned. ‘‘ We must therefore defend what 
the king has totally failed to secure to us.’’ As the 
best means of defence, he told the Pope that they had 
‘resigned their right ’? to Edward Bruce—accepting 
him as their overlord. 

The Pope, Alexander III, however, as all Popes did 
till the Reformation, supported England. He 
denounced this rebellion, and particularly the mendi- 
cant friars who had encouraged it; and contented 
himself with forwarding the Remonstrance to Edward 
II, saying that if the allegations were true (and he 
said it in such a way as to imply that he had no 
doubt) the king should enforce a just and speedy 
correction of all the grievances, ‘‘ thus removing all 
grounds of just complaint, that so the Irish people 
may render you the obedience due to their lord; or, if 
they be disposed to persist in foolish rebellion, they 
may convert their cause to a matter of open injustice, 
while you stand excused before God and man.”’ 


104 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Something was done. Roger Mortimer, as Justi- 
ciar, granted definitely to O’Conor the seven 
cantreds in Connacht (most of County Roscommon), 
which had been reserved to the English Crown: and 
he recognised Murtough O’Brien as King of Thomond 
against his rival Donough, who had fought against 
the English at Athenry. Yet, even so, de Clare 
backed Donough O’Brien in an attempt to oust 
Murtough, till in May, 1318, at the battle of Dysart 
O’Dea, de Clare was slain. His castle of Bunratty 
was destroyed, and his line driven out of Thomond. 
It shows how disorganised the king’s government had 
become that a leading Anglo-Norman noble should 
ally himself with a recognised rebel to drive out the 
king’s ally at a time while Edward Bruce was still in 
Ireland. 

But the effect of Bruce’s invasion had been only to 
produce anarchy: and it was worse because 1316 and 
1317 were years of scarcity. The Scots host, 
marching over the country, had pillaged and become 
detested; and the Irish, generally, fell away from 
them. In October, 1318, Robert Bruce having 
returned to Scotland, Edward was left with a small 
force. John de Bermingham—not the victor of 
Athenry—led an army against him, and Bruce over- 
boldly attacked them at Faughart, between the Moiry 
Pass and Dundalk: the fight went against him, 
and he fell. If the annalists are right, a cry 
of relief went up from the whole country. ‘‘No 
achievement had been performed in Ireland for a long 
time before from which greater benefit accrued to the 
country, for during the three and a half years that 
this Edward spent in it, a universal famine prevailed 


THE DECAY OF THE KING’S AUTHORITY 105 


to such a degree that men were wont to devour one 
another.’’ 

Bruce’s invasion had perhaps discouraged the Irish 
from looking outside for help: yet no native State had 
grown stronger in this period, though Thomond was 
once more free. The ascendency of the de Burgos 
was shaken; but as they declined, the Geraldines rose. 
In 1316, while Bruce was in Ireland, John FitzThomas 
was raised to be Earl of Kildare. In 13209, the head 
of the southern branch was made Earl of Desmond. 
But another family now came on to a level with them. 
These were the Butlers, holding great part of Tip- 
perary, Kilkenny, and Carlow; and when FitzThomas 
was made Earl of Kildare, Sir Edmund Butler became 
Earl of Carrick, his strong town on the Suir. In 1329, 
when the southern Geraldines were ennobled, Butler 
got the greater title, Earl of Ormond. These three 
earldoms came to divide the power of Ireland east of 
the Shannon between them, up to the day of the 
Tudor sovereigns. 

West of the Shannon, the de Burgos remained in 
possession, as the battle of Athenry had re-established 
them. But a great change came over their fortunes. 
The Red Ear! died in 1326, having lost prestige by his 
defeat in Bruce’s invasion, yet still lord of Ulster and 
of Connacht. He was succeeded by his grandson, 
William, the Brown Earl, a young man who had been 
brought up in England. The Connacht territory 
was principally controlled by Walter de Burgh, son 
of William the Grey. 

Walter appears to have taken his own way without 
regard to the Earl, who finally ordered him to be 
imprisoned. He was starved to death in one of the 


106 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Earl’s castles in Inishowen: so far north had the de 
Burgh power spread. In 1333, the Brown Earl was 
murdered at Belfast by men who were employed to 
revenge Walter de Burgh’s death. 

This deed had far-reaching consequences. Earl 
William left one child, a daughter, by his wife, the 
Countess Matilda of Lancaster. To this infant, or 
rather to the husband whom the Crown would choose 
for her, the whole inheritance in Ulster and Connacht 
would pass. The Connacht-bred de Burgos in the 
west were not prepared to accept this submission to 
a stranger’s rule. Edmund Albanach, son of Sir 
Wiliam Liath, captured his cousin, Governor of 
Connacht (another Edmund, son of the Red Earl), and 
drowned him in Lough Mask. It is told that the 
Connacht de Burgos appeared before the castle of 
Athlone, and in sight of the garrison discarded their 
English dress and put on the Irish garb. Henceforth, 
they, who had been known as de Burghs, or in Irish, 
Burca, were now MacWilliam. Edmund Albanach 
took Lower Connacht, and was known as MacWilliam 
Iochtar (Lower); from him descend the Earls of 
Mayo. He was married to the daughter of 
O’ Malley, lord of a territory called the Owles in West 
Mayo, and he had an O’Breslin for his chief “‘ poet 
and ambassador.’’ His brother Ulick took the Galway 
territory as MacWilliam Uachtar; he was ancestor of 
the Earls of Clanrickard. Edward III pardoned 
Edmund Albanach, and so in a manner consented to 
these changes. But Connacht, for two hundred years, 
was nearly as much outside English law as Thomond. 

Meanwhile there was no Earl of Ulster to control 
the north-east, and threaten the north-west. O'Neill 


THE DECAY OF THE KING’S AUTHORITY 107 


and O’Donnell grew stronger, and a branch of the 
O’Neills actually pushed out into the country which 
de Courcy had settled. They were called, after the 
father of their leader, ‘‘ Yellow Hugh’s Clan,’’ and 
the region between Belfast and Strangford Loughs was 
known as Clandeboye—Clann Aedh Buidhe. In Antrim, 
the Bissets, intermarried with the MacDonnells, 
became Irish like the de Burgos, and called them- 
selves MacKeown. South of Clandeboye, the Savages 
originally held the district of the Ards, but held it 
rather as an Irish clan. Except for South Down, and 
Carrickfergus—which held out as an English town— 
the whole of Ulster had now gone back to the Irish. 
The whole of Connacht was ruled either by Irish or 
by Normans who had become Irish. Thomond, 
east and west of the Shannon, was once more free. In 
the south, the Geraldines were lords of all from Mount 
Brandon to the Waterford river. But the MacCarthys 
held strongly in semi-independence to the west of 
Cork. Moreover, the Desmond power, lying far from 
Dublin, became more and more Irish, and more and 
more under Brehon, not English law. All the west was 
now almost purely Gaelic in custom. Between it and 
the English-settled parts of the east, Kildare and 
Ormond held great territories in the central plains. 
But they held these like petty kingdoms, and in them 
both Irish and English law were in use. The 
country which was directly governed by the English 
Justiciar did not extend north of Dundalk nor south 
of Waterford. 

But even in the east, English power was now 
sharply threatened. Wherever the country was diffi- 
cult to traverse and unfertile, the Irish were in 


108 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


possession, and from their fastnesses they threatened 
the settled lands—worked by Irishmen for the profit 
of Anglo-Norman lords and gentry. The Dublin and 
Wicklow mountains were held by the O’Byrnes and 
O’Tooles: Glenmalure was their stronghold. South 
of them, in North Wexford, the line of the MacMur- 
rough kings was becoming powerful. Dermot 
MacMurrough’s son, Donal Kavanagh, had stood 
resolutely with the Normans, and Strongbow gave 
him large lands. His descendants, called Kavanagh 
or MacMurrough, were recognised by the Irish as the 
rightful lords of Leinster. In the great central bog- 
land, the O’Mores grew strong in Leix, and the 
O’Conors in Offaly. They were constantly at feud 
with the Earls of Kildare, as the Kavanaghs were with 
the Earls of Ormond. Further north, the MacMahons 
had become powerful in what is now Monaghan: and 
on the border between Ulster and Connacht, the 
Maguires had similarly grown great in Fermanagh, 
and were generally in alliance with the O’Donnells. 
Thus the country was more than ever a patchwork, 
and purely Irish patches abounded in the east, while 
the West was almost wholly Gaelic. But there was 
one great difference between the settled country and 
the rest: it had the life of towns. Drogheda, 
Dundalk, and Carrickfergus all remained strong 
communities. Belfast was still only a village at the 
ford of the Lagan near the sea: Coleraine was a 
town. But west of the Bann there was nothing really 
to be called a town till you came to Sligo, which 
owed its growth to the Lower Burkes and did not 
reach any great importance in medizval times. But 
Galway was a great town, and it was founded by the 


THE DECAY OF THE KING’S AUTHORITY 109 


de Burgos. Richard de Burgo gave it a charter in 
1270. This meant that the inhabitants had a right 
to govern themselves and to raise taxes, by which 
they paid for building and maintaining walls and for 
a town-guard; and they could also determine who 
should have the right of citizenship. Galway grew up 
under the protection of the de Burgos; but when it 
was strong, its walls were no less ready to keep out 
de Burgos if they came to pillage, than to repel the 
O’Flaherties of Connemara, who were their enemies 
in the west. 


For in that period petty war was universal through- 
out Europe, not in Ireland only: but it was specially 
bad in Ireland. Every Irish chief had, by custom, the 
right to make war; and so had every Anglo-Norman 
lord of a liberty. War meant pillage: and civilisation 
could only grow where there was either sanctuary or 
peace. The monasteries gave sanctuary. They were 
seats of learning and teaching as well as of religion; 
and Irish kings had always been founders of monas- 
teries in their possessions, and the custom continued 
wherever Gaelic rule lasted. The Abbey Knockmoy, 
near Tuam, was built by Crovderg O’Conor in thanks- 
giving when he repulsed the Normans in 1189. Quin 
Abbey in Clare was built for the Franciscans in 1402 
by Macnamara, foremost of the Thomond urraghts, 
or lesser chieftains : its beauty can be seen even in 
the ruins. If Gaelic kings built, the Anglo-Norman 
lords nobly rivalled them. There are Geraldine and 
de Burgo and Butler foundations all over Ireland. 

But the life of towns and the protection of their 
walls gave something more than sanctuary. They 
gave security for trade, and the beginnings of liberty. 


IIo HISTORY OF IRELAND 


A merchant needed security to store up the cargo that 
he was collecting to take over sea, or the cargo that 
he had brought back to dispose of. The town walls 
which he and his fellow citizens manned gave that, 
and wealth could accumulate. Also there was a kind 
of popular rule. The town had its magistrates, 
and, though at first the lords tried tc name them, the 
citizens always ended by getting the right to choose 
them: and their common council made the bye-laws 
and settled the taxes. Life within walls was different 
from life in the open country to a degree that it is 
hard for us to realise. And the difference lay in 
greater security and greater freedom. 

The Norsemen had first brought this life of towns 
to Ireland, and the Anglo-Normans fostered it in the 
great Ostman ports. But they also granted charters 
freely to many new towns. They fostered the life of 
towns. Athenry, in Connacht, became a place of 
importance, and paid for building its walls with the 
spoils of the battle in 1317. Wherever there was a 
town there was a school—generally controlled by a 
religious order. But there was also the knowledge 
that has to do with commerce, and there was inter- 
course with oversea countries; for the merchants had 
the right of trading anywhere in the king’s dominions 
as freely as if they were citizens of the great port 
of Bristol. 

These advantages, however, were not extended 
equally to the mere Irish. In all the towns, there were 
undoubtedly some citizens of Irish race, as well as of 
the Ostmen. But the bulk of the citizens appear to 
have been English. The English, as distinct from the 
Normans, Welsh, and Flemings—who were warriors— 


THE DECAY OF THE KING’S AUTHORITY II! 


came to Ireland as townsmen. In Galway, a great 
settlement of them grew up under de Burgo’s pro- 
tection. But this strong middle class element every- 
where preferred to be independent of the local lord, 
and finally, in 1370, Galway got a rcyal charter, and 
had the same position as Limerick. These western 
ports did great trade with Bordeaux and Spain. 
Their situation helped them, for the prevailing winds 
being from the west, a ship could run either north or 
south easily. They exported very largely hides and 
wool. They brought back wine and choice cloths. 
The whole countryside brought in corn and meat. 
The fishers landed fish in their market, and a market 
due charged—for instance, a farthing on every 
salmon—helped to pay for the upkeep of the town 
and its walls. Native cloth as well as foreign was 
on sale. One important produce was honey, taxed a 
penny the horse load. There was no sugar in the 
fourteenth century. 

It was, of course, good for Ireland that there 
should be such towns; and people in them gradually 


became Irish. Using the language in their trade, 
they came to use it also among themselves. There 
was then no division of religion. The beautiful 


church of St. Nicholas in Galway began to be built 
about 1320 by the citizens (St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, 
is the patron of fishers as well as of children). But 
at the same time the townsmen distrusted the ‘‘ mere 
Irish,’’ just as people of the Scotch towns distrusted 
the Highland Gael; and outside the walls of every city 
there grew up an “‘ Irish town ’’ inhabited by the poor 
and working people. At Galway, it was the 
Claddagh, the fishermen’s quarter; the shipowners 


I12 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


lived within the walls. At Wexford, it was the Faythe 
(Faitche, a green). In Dublin, Irishtown is the old 
name for one of the poorest quarters. The towns 
were centres of an English civilisation in which the 
‘“ mere Irish’? were admitted only to a small share. 

All over Ireland, except in the parts under purely 
Gaelic rule, the position of the Irish was uncertain 
and unfair. English rights were granted to indivi- 
duals who paid for them; and, on the whole, the 
Crown wanted to pacify by extending citizenship. 
But, from Edward II’s reign on, the Crown was not 
strong enough to control the nobles in Ireland, and 
the nobles did not want to pacify. They believed that 
the gains of war were greater than those of peace, 
and they wanted to keep the Irish in a state of revolt 
which would justify confiscations. They never brought 
themselves, as the Norman nobles did in England, to 
consider the natives of the conquered country as being 
completely their fellow-citizens. From the thirteenth 
century to the end of the eighteenth, those who re- 
presented the English power always regarded the 
Irish as existing on sufferance in their own country: 
not as fellow-subjects, but as enemies held down by 
force in the King’s dominions. 


CHAPTER XII. 


The Growth of the Middle Nation. 


FROM the Bruce invasion onwards, there begins the 
growth of a middle nation in Ireland, “‘ Irish to the 
English, but English to the Irish.’’ Up to that time, 
the ruling race in both countries had been Norman, 
habitually speaking French; but from 1350, English 
was becoming the Court language of England. 
Chaucer, a courtier, wrote an English which had been 
a good deal changed by the introduction of many 
borrowed words. Henceforward there was an 
English literature appealing to the English nobles. 
In Ireland also French was being discarded: the 
ruling class began to use the common tongue. But in 
Ireland, that was Irish; and in the fourteenth century 
the Irish tongue offered a literature much richer than 
the English. From the first, the Norman invaders 
had been charmed by Irish music. Gerald of Wales, 
a scholar of the Geraldine kin, who accompanied the 
conquerors and wrote a history of the conquest, 
praises the Irish harpers; and as the Norman lords 
established themselves in Ireland, they began to have 
their own harpers. Later, when they had learnt the 
language, they had their own poets like the Irish 
kings. There was also a tendency among these 
settlers to adopt the dress and fashions of the native 
Irish. All this was most marked in the west, where 
the English settlement was very thinly scattered. 
The de Burgos, or MacWilliams, as they were now 


(D 574) 113 E 


II4 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


called in Connacht, had become almost wholly Irish. 
In the south, the Earls of Desmond, holding a great 
tract of western country, were notable patrons of the 
Irish minstrels, and the Earls themselves became 
poets in the Irish tongue. Irish culture attracted 
them. They were cut off from the Norman-French 
culture, and they were not in touch with the new 
English culture that was springing up. Also, there 
were constant intermarriages. The de Burgos had 
taken wives from the O’Briens, and from the 
O’Conors: and the settlers were drawn into the Irish 
custom of fosterage, by which a boy was sent from 
his home to be reared in a friendly household. 
Wherever this was done, a tie was created which the 
Irish held to be almost stronger than blood-relation- 
ship. 

These things were less marked in the east of 
Ireland. The Earls of Kildare, whose seat at May- 
nooth was so near to Dublin, were always closely in 
touch with the government, and there was almost 
always some English official in high authority at 
Dublin. The Earls of Ormond, who in this century 
acquired Kilkenny and made it their chief stronghold, 
were between the northern and the southern Geraldine 
powers, and had to fear being crushed by a combi- 
nation of these. They were therefore driven to rely 
on maintaining a close dependence on the English 
Crown. But they also needed to have friendly 
relations with the Irish in their territory, and must 
use Irish speech and Irish custom. Yet neither 
Kildare nor Ormond ever became so Irish as 
Desmond, nor was Desmond ever so completely un- 


English as the MacWilliam lords of Connacht. 


THE GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE NATION 115 


None of the great Anglo-Norman rulers ever 
showed the smallest disposition to come under the 
rule of a “‘ mere Irish’’ king. It cannot be said that 
any one of them ever attempted to establish an Irish 
kingdom for himself; and even the de Burghs, who 
broke away for a period, came back to the English con- 
nection. But they all of them, and the Earls of Des- 
mond most, encouraged the growth of Irish culture, 
and allowed in their dominions the use of Irish law. 
The English law ran side by side with it in their wide 
regions, and naturally difficulties arose. During the 
thirteenth century, Oxford was becoming a great seat 
of learning, and large numbers of Irish resorted there, 
very largely with the purpose of studying English law 
so that they might be able to protect the rights of 
their own countrymen, and explain to English courts 
how the two laws differed. They went there also to 
acquire the European learning from which Ireland had 
been too much separated: and in the reign of Edward 
II attempts were made to help this by establishing a 
university in Dublin itself—for the great Irish seat of 
learning in Armagh had been broken up. But the 
institution did not prosper. Those who held power 
in the east of Ireland, the English-settled portion, did 
not wish this movement to go on. They were more 
hostile to the Irish than the great Earls. They 
wanted to keep Ireland a possession of the settlers; 
and the weaker and less taught the native Irish were, 
the better for their purpose. In short, for purposes 
of plunder, they wanted the native Irish to be kept 
outside the law, and they wanted Ireland to be 
governed according to their ideas—neither according 


116 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


to those of the native Irish, nor according to those 
of the English Crown. 

They had now got their Parliament, and they used 
it to maintain the rights of the settlers against the 
Crown on the one side, and against the native Irish 
on the other. The Great Earls stood in with the idea of 
a Parliament, as it protected their privileges against 
the Crown. But it is plain that they took part in 
passing laws by which they themselves did not intend 
to be bound in their own liberties. On the other 
hand, the Irish kings and rulers showed no desire to 
take part in these parliaments, which were entirely 
against their notions of law and custom. 

We have to remember that the Normans—first in 
France, then in England, and later in Jreland—came 
in as a conquering race, disregarding the laws of the 
country which they conquered, and making new laws 
where they came. But in France and later in England 
they adopted much of the law that they found 
prevalent. In Ireland, unhappily, it seemed to them 
unnecessary to take account of Irish ideas in law- 
making. But the Irish, whose country had been 
less altered by successive changes of rule than either 
Normandy or England, had their own system of laws 
—the laws of Cormac Mac Art—which came to them 
by immemorial usage; and they refused to admit that 
any assembly should have power to upset altogether 
this ancient tradition. 

The Norman parliaments, whether in England 
or in Ireland, were really Councils, in which 
those to whom the ownership of land had been allotted 
made general rules of government. The king took 
part as one of the Estates of the Realm; but he left 


THE GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE NATION 117 


himself a dispensing power—power to decide that in 
a particular case the law should not apply. 
Apparently, the Great Earls claimed the like power 
for themselves. The towns, which were Anglo- 
Norman institutions, sent representatives to Parlia- 
ment, and accepted the idea of Parliament. But they 
were more interested in the decrees and work of their 
borough councils. The Irish stood completely outside 
this whole law-making machinery, which they did not 
understand or care about. The Great Earls understood 
the situation, and allowed the Irish in their lordships 
to regulate their affairs by Irish law, disregarding the 
laws which they themselves helped to make in 
Parliament. They were oppressive, but they oppressed 
the lesser Anglo-Normans just as readily as the Irish. 
Many of the settlers found that justice was more 
easily to be got in the Irish courts than in those 
according to Anglo-Norman law. 

But the Irish Parliament represented not only the 
Great Earls but also the lesser lords and the Anglo- 
Norman bishops, and various officials of the English 
court. And all this element in the middle nation was 
fearful lest the settlement, in ceasing to be Norman- 
French, should become Irish rather than English. 
They desired to keep solid possession of the land 
which had been conquered and settled: and from 
the time of Bruce’s invasion on, much of it had fallen 
back to the Irish. 

On the other hand, the Crown came to the 
conclusion that this excessive power of Anglo-Irish 
nobles was the cause of disorder, and in Edward III’s 
reign an ordinance was passed declaring that no Irish- 
born subject should hold any office in Ireland. This 


118 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


roused the Middle Nation, and there was virtually a 
rebellion. Desmond summoned a Parliament on his 
own account, and the ‘‘ English by blood ’”’ protested 
against the intrusion of the ‘‘English by birth’’ who 
came over, strange to the country. The ordinance was 
withdrawn, and a different policy was adopted, which 
gave to the Irish chiefs something like the position of 
Norman lords of counties. Each ruler was recognised 
as ‘“ captain of his nation,’’ nation meaning kindred 
or clan, as in Latin. This term was used, not only 
of the ‘‘ mere Irish,’’ but of the Powers, Barrys, and 
others; for many of the Normans were really adopt- 
ing the Irish clan system: and even the first Earl of 
Desmond came to be in many ways an Irish king. 
He represented that part of the middle nation which 
stood nearest to the Gael, and the place of his burial 
when he died in 1350 was far west in Tralee. 

The Crown had tried to recover power in Ireland 
through its claim to the de Burgo inheritance. Maud 
of Lancaster, widow of Earl Walter murdered in 1333, 
married d’Ufford, who, in 1344, came over as viceroy 
to try to recover his wife’s lands. But he died after 
a year. In 1361, a greater effort was made. Earl 
Walter’s daughter, Elizabeth, had been married to no 
less a person than Lionel of Clarence, Edward III’s 
second son, and Clarence now came over to Ireland as 
viceroy, and remained five years. But he recovered 
neither Ulster nor Connacht. The great Irish lords 
did not support him with troops: the lesser ones could 
not. And under his presidency a Parliament was 
called at Kilkenny in 1366, which began its proceed- 
ings by formal complaint that the English now “‘ live 
and govern themselves according to the manners, 


THE GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE NATION 119 


fashion, and language of the Irish enemies, and also 
have made marriages and alliances with them.’’ 
Such marriages were forbidden: the use of Brehon law 
was forbidden. Englishmen were forbidden to reward 
all Irish minstrels, rhymers and storytellers, or to use 
Irish speech or an Irish name. 

These laws were defensive, not offensive—bulwarks 
against a rising tide. Irish culture spread. The third 
Earl of Desmond sent his son to be fostered by Brian 
O’Brien, King of Thomond, and was himself known 
as Gerald the Poet,—writing in Irish. Such rulers 
began to be regarded by the Irish as part of Ireland 
and were popular. Brehon law was used everywhere 
in the great earldoms among the Irish, and ‘‘ March 
law,’’ a combination of it with the English law, was 
common along the marches, or borders. English 
power weakened only where it was deliberately anti- 
Irish, in the ‘‘ obedient counties,’’ which were those 
on the sea-board of modern Leinster and County 
Waterford. A practice began of paying to the Irish 
chieftains dwelling on the borders of English settle- 
ment ‘‘ black rent,’’ as a guarantee against raiding. 
Chief exactors of this rent were the MacMurroughs, 
who now claimed to be kings of Leinster. One Mac 
Murrough after another was captured by the English 
and slain. At last, in 1375, Art Oge MacMurrough 
Kavanagh became lord of Leinster, and from the 
Wexford mountains plundered Wexford, Kildare, 
Carlow and Kilkenny, till his yearly tribute was con- 
ceded. Further, he succeeded in making a marriage 
_ with a daughter of the Earl of Kildare. This lady, 
being a widow, held the barony of Kildare from her 
first husband. Art MacMurrough claimed the barony, 


120 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


as he was entitled to, by English law. But the Statute 
of Kilkenny forbade his succession, because he was 
an Irishman. Yet, Kildare had allowed the marriage 
in defiance of the Statute. It was no wonder that 
Irishmen remained rebellious since their position under 
English law was uncertain and unfair. 

In 1394, Richard IJ did what no English king had 
done for nearly two centuries: he came to Ireland. 
With him was an army of thirty thousand archers and 
four thousand mail-clad men. Landing in Waterford, 
he wrote to his uncle, the Duke of York (using French 
as his tongue) that Ireland held three kinds of people: 
‘‘ wild Irish, our enemies; Irish rebels (meaning the 
Norman-Irish); and obedient English.’’ No Irish were 
counted as obedient. But the Irish kings of Tyrone and 
of Thomond, and O’Conor, representing the Irish of 
Connacht, came in and did homage. MacCarthy did 
the same, recognising Desmond as his overlord; and 
so also did Art MacMurrough, who at Richard’s 
coming had resisted and burnt New Ross before him. 
The de Burgos also made submission. The Earl of 
Ormond acted as interpreter between Richard and the 
Irish kings. Every great Irish prince, and through 
them every lesser one, had now received the king’s 
guarantee for the lands he held, on condition of 
loyalty. But a special condition had been made with 
Art MacMurrough and the Irish of Leinster. They 
were to vacate Leinster and go to conquer land else- 
where. 

Richard left Ireland after eight months, and his 
Viceroy, the Earl of March, heir both of the earldom 
of Ulster and of the English throne, endeavoured to 
push the Irish of Leinster out of their holdings; 


THE GROWTH OF THE MIDDLE NATION I2I 


and in a petty skirmish he was slain by the O’Byrnes. 
Richard at once struck back at the King of Leinster, 
and declared his barony in Kildare forfeit, and in 
1399 landed again in Waterford. But on his march to 
Dublin, Art harassed his army till a meeting was 
arranged between him and the Earl of Gloucester. 
Art came to it, galloping down hill without saddle or 
bridle on a horse that had cost him the price of four 
hundred cows. No terms could be arranged, for Art 
claimed to be rightful King of Ireland, by succession 
from Dermot MacMurrough: and Richard had to fight 
his way with difficulty to Dublin. There he learnt 
the news of Bolingbroke’s landing, and sailed back to 
England and defeat. Richard lost his kmgdom, and 
Art got back his wife’s barony. He maintained 
himself as King of Leinster throughout the reign of 
Henry IV, and though, in 1417, he admitted the 
suzerainty of Henry V, he died independent. But 
with him ended the power of his line. His son was 
captured and sent to he in the Tower of London for 
seven years. This was under the Viceroyalty of Sir 
John Talbot, one of the chief among Henry V’s 
victorious captains. 


HISTORY OF IRELAND 


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CHAPTER XIII. 
The Rise of the Earls of Kildare. 


THE fifteenth century brought to Ireland something 
more like material progress and prosperity than it had 
yet known. It was the period in which the great 
earldoms reached their greatest power, and the 
English State apart from them fell to its lowest ebb. 
It was the progress of a Gaelic-speaking Ireland, 
under the rule of Anglo-Norman lords. Yet these 
lords now freely leagued themselves with the native 
Gaelic sovereigns, and abandoned the attempt to blot 
out the native sovereignties. There were, throughout 
the century, three wholly independent Gaelic States, 
and three great earldoms. FEarls and native kings 
alike acknowledged the overlordship of the English 
Crown, but in a very different spirit. The Earls, 
though they were patrons of Gaelic culture, never cut 
themselves away from English culture. They never 
thought of themselves as belonging to the same people 
as the Gaels, and they had an attachment to the 
English Crown. When sovereignty became disputed 
in England, they took sides passionately with the Red 
Rose of Lancaster or the White Rose of York. The 
native kings only troubled about the English Crown 
when a representative of it, especially a royal 
personage, came to Ireland with great power. Then 
they paid homage. 

The three leading native kingdoms were, Thomond 

123 


124 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


(stretching from Slieve Bloom to Loop Head) Tyr- 
connell, and Tyrone. The rulers of Thomond inter- 
married again and again with the Burkes, who were 
on their north in Connacht and held also Clanwilliam, 
east of Thomond, along the Shannon. At times also, 
the O’Briens made alliance with Desmond. In the 
north, Tyrone was the leading power up to the reign 
of Henry VI. But from 1460 to the end of the century, 
under a very able king, Hugh Roe O’Donnell, Tyr- 
connell became at least equal to Tyrone in importance. 
Extending its sway into Connacht, it grew at the 
expense of the Burkes. Thus all Ireland west of the 
Shannon was controlled either by O’Donnell, by 
O’Brien, or by the Burkes, who were almost com- 
pletely Irish. 

As to the position of the earldoms under Henry 
IV and Henry V, Kildare had less power than either 
Ormond or Desmond. But any one of these earls 
controlled far more territory than the king’s repre- 
sentative. In 1436, the Irish Parliament reported 
that the ‘‘land of peace,’’ in which the king’s 
summons could be freely issued and obeyed, was not 
more than thirty miles long by twenty deep. It did 
not extend south of Dalkey, nor north of Drogheda. 
This region, enclosed by a large defensive moat and 
dyke, of which a remnant can be seen in the grounds 
of Clongowes, came to be called The Pale. 

This shrinking of the king’s authority had one 
consequence. When a dozen shires of great extent 
(twice as large as the modern counties) paid tribute, a 
central army could be easily maintained. Now, most 
of Ireland that was not in Gaelic hands was part of 
some great Liberty, and paid no taxes to the Crown. 


THE RISE OF THE EARLS OF KILDARE 125 


Ormond, Desmond, and Kildare each maintained 
his own standing force of troops—mostly Irish. So 
did every Irish king or lord keep up his force of 
gallowglasses and levy tribute for them on his 
subjects—supplemented by such levies as he could 
force from his neighbours. It was recognised that 
Ireland was ‘‘ aland of war ’’—scores of rulers having 
the right to make war when and where they dared. 
The Crown must maintain troops; but, not having 
enough taxes to pay them in the English fashion, it 
adopted the Irish usage of ‘‘ coign and livery,’’ charg- 
ing individual citizens with the duty of keeping a 
soldier and his horse. This was against the law of 
the Irish Parliament; but it had been first done as an 
emergency measure by the Earl of Desmond, just 
after Bruce’s invasion, and it was done repeatedly by 
those who ruled in the king’s name. It was also done 
everywhere in the “‘ liberties ’’ under the great lords. 
The result was that the English settlers, disliking this 
practice foreign to their customs, left the country in 
increasing numbers. 

In short, during the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries, Ireland was steadily becoming more Irish 
and less English. At the end of the fifteenth century, 
the laws passed by the Parliament of Kilkenny in 1366 
were again enacted. But it was found necessary to 
drop that against Englishmen speaking Irish. 

On the other hand, when the King of England or 
his heir came to Ireland, the independent Gaelic rulers 
paid him such observance as would have been paid to 
the High King. The idea of having a Gaelic High King 
had disappeared. Indeed, Munster treated the Earl 
of Desmond much as the subordinate kings had 


1260 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


treated the King of Cashel; and for a long period 
Kildare was virtually High King over all that used to | 
be ruled from Tara. 

Matters were complicated by the position of the 
Earls of Ormond. They also spoke Irish perfectly, 
and had Irish courts sitting in their territory. But, 
owing to a marriage, they had acquired great 
possessions in Wiltshire, and were therefore much 
more interested in England; and, during the Wars of 
the Roses the head of the family was much absent 
from Ireland. But Ormond, like the others, was 
always ready to treat with the Gaelic rulers. Indeed, 
through the whole of the fifteenth century and down 
to the middle of the sixteenth, no attempt was made 
to break up any Irish State. Ireland became once 
more a country of many kingdoms—the greatest of 
them, however, being ruled by Norman-Irish. The 
Pale about Dublin was little if at all bigger than the 
Daneland had been before the Norman conquest. 
But Dublin was now the capital and stronghold of a 
foreign power claiming the whole country: and there 
was there a Parliament which had the right to make 
laws binding the whole country. 

This Parliament represented only those who were 
now called English. It had no right to interfere with 
the authority of the earls in their own ‘‘ liberties.’’ 
The earls must administer the laws there. But the 
laws which it passed were binding on the earls, and 
the earls could be accused before the Parliament, 
tried, and sentenced. In England at this period there 
was the same confusion. The rights of the barons 
were still in conflict with those of the Crown. But in 
Ireland there was this complication—that the King 


THE RISE OF THE EARLS OF KILDARE 127 


claimed everybody in Ireland as his subject, yet 
Parliament legislated as if all the native Irish were 
foreign enemies. At the same time, half of the 
country was ruled by English subjects who made 
treaties of friendship and alliance with the native Irish 
chiefs, and had Irish lawyers administering Irish law 
throughout their territories. 

It must always be remembered, that though the 
Irish Parliament existed from about 1300, it was not 
a Parliament of Ireland; it was not, for at least 
three hundred years, intended to give protection of 
law to the Irish. Government according to the laws 
which the Irish Parliament passed in the fourteenth 
century broke down completely in the fifteenth. The 
government of the Great Earls, which followed, was 
government according to Irishideas. It was personal 
rule conducted with respect to Irish custom. It 
differed, however, in one respect from Irish rule: the 
earl was always succeeded by his eldest son. The 
Irish saw that this custom had the advantage of avoid- 
ing disputes about succession by which they them- 
selves were much weakened; and, though they did not 
abandon their own practice of choosing the fittest 
man, they adopted about this time the plan of naming 
a “‘tanist ’’ or successor while the king lived. This, 
however, unhappily, did not put an end to disputes. 

But the Anglo-Irish lords found the necessity of 
abandoning the English custom by which a daughter 
could inherit land and lordship if there was no son. 
In Connacht, the Burkes made it a rule of their family 
that only a male heir should succeed. The Desmonds, 
Kildares, and Ormonds always appear to have been 
provided with sons; but a female heir would 


128 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


scarcely have been allowed to inherit, because 
the Crown would have had the right to choose 
her husband, who would rule, and lordship would pass 
out of the clan. In the case of the Desmonds, some- 
thing like Irish custom was asserted. James of 
Desmond, having deposed his nephew Thomas in 1411, 
was accepted as Earl in defiance of English law of 
succession, and became in reality King of Munster. 
It was natural that he should act according to Irish 
ideas, for he was the foster son of O’Brien of 
Thomond, and his wife was a Burke of Clanrickarde. 
Everything about him was Irish. He had an hereditary 
captain of his gallowglasses, the MacSheehys (lke 
the Sweeneys, a family half-Norse, half-Scot, from the 
Western Isles), and his hereditary bard was O’Daly. 
All the ports of Munster were in his control, and the 
fame of his greatness spread to Florence, whence his 
ancestors were reputed to have come. The Secretary 
to the Republic of Florence sent a young Florentine 
noble of the Gherardini to open up friendship and an 
alliance with him. 

During his long rule, James of Desmond was in 
close alliance with the White Earl of Ormond, then 
the leading person in Dublin as well as in his own 
principality. In 1449, the two stood sponsors to the 
Duke of Clarence, son of Richard Duke of York, who 
had come to Dublin. But when Richard was recalled 
to England for the war, the White Earl’s successor 
sided with Lancaster, and, being also Earl of Wilt- 
shire, was constantly engaged in England until, after 
the defeat of Lancaster at Towton, he was beheaded. 
And, though the earldom was restored to his 
successors, the next two earls were constantly absent 


THE RISE OF THE EARLS OF KILDARE 129 


from Ireland. The Butler clan in Ireland was, how- 
ever, led by Sir Piers Rua Butler, who was practically 
adopted as ruler by the clan after he had killed his 
rival, the natural son of one of the earls. 

Power thus fell to the two Geraldine earls, who had 
been steadily Yorkists. At first, Thomas Earl of 
Desmond was the chief. This remarkable man 
founded and endowed in Youghal a college on the 
type of those at Oxford. There was the more need, 
because the projects for founding a University m 
Dublin in the fourteenth century had fallen through; 
and, to complete the calamity, from the reign of Henry 
V on, Irish-born students—of whatever race—were 
forbidden resort to England, except under difficult 
conditions. In 1465, Desmond being then the Lord 
Deputy, it was proposed by the Irish Parliament that 
there should be a University at Drogheda. Unhappily, 
the idea was not carried out. 

Throughout the fifteenth century all English 
statesmen had been jealous of the native-born Anglo- 
Irish, and had actually once introduced an edict that 
no Irish-born should hold office in Ireland: also, the 
lesser Anglo-Irish of the Pale were jealous of the great 
lords, and detested their tendency tomake friends with 
the Irish ‘‘enemy.’’? While Desmond held his 
Parliament in Dublin, MacWilliam of Clanrickarde, 
and even Hugh Roe O’Donnell of Tyrconnell attended 
in Dublin, accompanied by their gallowglasses. The 
lesser nobles and the English officials saw this with 
dislike. Also, O’Brien of Thomond had successfully 
invaded Limerick, and forced Desmond to buy him 
off by ‘‘ black rent.’’ And, like every other Anglo- 
Irish overlord, Desmond had exacted “‘ coign and 


130 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


livery,’’ quartering his soldiers on English subjects. 
In 1467, Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, was sent over as 
Deputy. He called a Parliament at Drogheda at 
which both Kildare and Desmond were impeached for 
treason. They were charged with making alliance 
and fosterage with the Irish enemies of the king, and 
supporting them by gifts of horses and armour. 
These gifts were, no doubt, made by the earls as 
‘““ wages’? after the Gaelic fashion; thus the Irish 
chiefs who accepted them were pledged to pay tribute 
and furnish levies in war. 

Desmond was executed out of hand; but Kildare, 
escaping to England, went straight to the king and so 
pleaded that this same Parliament sitting at Drogheda 
was forced to annul the sentence against him and to 
restore Desmond’s rights. But Desmond’s son had 
already at once assumed the title in defiance of the 
Parliament’s Act annulling it, and had declared that 
he and his people would never again attend Parlia- 
ment, nor enter any walled town at the king’s 
command. Henceforward Desmond was more than 
ever un-English: and all effective power in the capital 
passed to the house of Kildare. The earl being 
Deputy, Parliament granted him a permanent body- 
guard amounting, finally, to nearly five hundred men. 
In 1477, the Great Earl Gerald, or Garret Mor, 
succeeded and ruled till 1513. | Within that period 
came the decisive change in England from wars of 
succession to settled order, and from a kingship 
limited by the power of great barons to absolute 
monarchy, ruling through servants selected at the 
king’s pleasure. 

It is necessary to consider what part of Ireland 


THE RISE OF THE EARLS OF KILDARE 131 


Kildare really controlled. All of Munster under the 
Earl of Desmond was little interfered with by the 
king’s representative, and was a flourishing country. 
Gaelic lords—the MacCarthys, and the O’Sullivans, 
and others—ruled in the west, but acknowledged the 
Desmond as overlord. Its ports, from Tralee and 
Dingle round to Youghal and Waterford, did much 
trade with France. West of the Shannon, English 
power hardly reached. Thomond was independent 
under the O’Briens, and their power generally 
supported and was supported by the Burkes of 
Clanrickarde. Galway was very nearly independent 
—a most thriving city. Limerick served Thomond for 
a port, but was controlled by the Norman-Irish lords 
and by English citizens. In the north of Connacht, 
the Mayo Burkes and the O’Conors disputed territory, 
and both were eventually made subject to the growing 
power of Tyrconnell. 

Tyrconnell and Tyrone were independent, like 
Thomond. In the east of Ulster, Coleraine was in 
English hands; so was Carrickfergus, and also Ard- 
glass in County Down—at this time a main trading 
centre. But except in these towns, Kildare had no 
authority in Ulster. The branch of the O’Neills which 
held Clandeboye, that is, the land between Strang- 
ford Lough and Belfast Lough, was quite indepen- 
dent. On the Antrim coast, Scots had settled in great 
number, owing to a marriage between John 
MacDonnell, Lord of the Isles, and Marjory Bisset, 
heiress of the Norman-Welsh family that had held 
the glens for so long. 

Kildare’s power, which was based on Dublin and on 
his own great stronghold in Maynooth, was ringed 


132 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


about with smaller Irish principalities. The Mac 
Mahons now held power in Monaghan, and they often 
threatened Dundalk. But, lying where they did, it was 
-worth their while to have help from Kildare against 
O’Neill of Tyrone. The most formidable threat to 
the Pale came from the O’Conors of Offaly and from 
the O’Mores of Leix. Further south, the O’Byrnes 
and O’Tooles in the Wicklow mountains, and the 
MacMurroughs on the borders of what is now Wexford 
and Carlow, gave much anxiety. Kildare’s hand was 
heavy on all the borderers; yet he punished, but never 
sought to destroy. He never attempted to wipe out 
any Irish power. And in his dealings with the two 
greatest Irish kings he spared no pains to make friends 
of them. Henry O’Neill of Tyrone had ruled since 
1455. In 1480, Kildare gave his sister Eleanor in 
marriage to Conn O’Neill, Henry’s heir. With Hugh 
Roe O’Donnell, ruler of Tyrconnell from 1461 to 1505, 
he made lasting alliance, and sent his son to be 
fostered with him—that is, to be brought up and 
educated in O’Donnell’s house. 

He married also one of his daughters to a 
MacCarthy and another to an O’Carroll, lord of Ely 
in Tipperary. 

Kildare and Desmond were two of the leading 
nobles in Europe of that day. No king had greater 
subjects. They did not send their sons to be brought 
up in barbarous households, nor give their womenfolk 
in marriage where they could not live with some 


splendour. 
At this time, the culture or training of Irish and 
Norman-Irish nobles had much in common. _ Every- 


where Irish literature was studied. Manus O’Donnell, 


THE RISE OF THE EARLS OF KILDARE 133 


son of Hugh Oge, was a poet and a scholar in Irish: so 
were two at least of the Earls of Desmond. Gaelic 








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134 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


used among the Irish for intercourse with the outside 
world. It was taught in Irish schools as a spoken 
language even in Elizabeth’s day, when Irish civilisa- 
tion had been much broken up. 

In Kildare’s time, all the greater Irish kings 
endowed learning and religion. Hugh Roe built in 
Donegal a strong castle; but he, with his wife, Finola 
O’Brien, also built and endowed a great monastery. 
Beautiful work of the Gothic school was plenty in 
Gaelic Ireland, as well as strong works of defence. 
And everywhere the professional learned classes— 
poets, historians, and lawyers—were held in honour 
and richly rewarded. 

The real blame for lack of civilisation in this period 
falls on the government which left Ireland without a 
university. Desmond did his best at Youghal: Kildare 
endowed a college at Maynooth: Ormond founded 
a school at Kilkenny, which, unlilce the two others, 
escaped destruction. In this matter, the kings of 
England and their representatives fell far short of 
the Irish tradition which had always insisted that 
learning should be endowed. One of the first things 
the Normans did was to destroy the great school at 
Armagh, in King John’s day. They never replaced it. 
They fell short in the first duty of any government 
which claims to improve civilisation. 


CHAPTER XIV. 
The End of Feudalism. 


WHEN Henry VII came to the throne of England, 
after the defeat of Richard III, Ireland was on the side 
of the Geraldines, and so was ill-pleased by the victory 
of a Lancastrian. But the new king was too insecure 
and too politic to quarrel with Kildare. On the other 
hand, Kildare, seeing that the Ormond faction must 
return to power, made a marriage between his sister, 
Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, and Sir Piers Butler, lead- 
ing man of the Butlers in Ireland—the earl still 
remaining away. 

But apparently, few in Ireland believed that Henry 
would be able to hold the English throne, and when 
the boy Lambert Simnel, was brought to Dublin and 
presented as Earl of Warwick, true successor of 
Edward of York, the Irish lords and bishops, with 
Kildare at their head, accepted him and crowned him 
in Dublin as King Edward VI. The only people in 
Ireland who stood to Henry were the Butlers, and the 
city of Waterford—which shut its gates against 
Desmond’s brother. Waterford lay so near the Butler 
stronghold of Carrick-on-Suir and the county of 
Kilkenny that it was always under Butler influence. 

After Lambert Simnel’s partisans were defeated, 
Henry issued his pardon to those in Ireland who had 
supported him. But, in 1491, there came to Cork a 
new pretender, Perkin Warbeck, claiming to be King 

135 


136 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Edward’s second son. All Munster, led by Desmond, 
accepted him before he moved off to Flanders. Henry 
now thought it was time to depose Kildare from his 
office of Deputy. Next year, Kildare’s ally, Hugh 
Roe O’Donnell, went to the Scottish court, whose 
king was supporting Perkin, and, it is said, urged 
him to invade Ulster. At all events, Kildare was 
naturally suspected; and, in 1494, Sir Edward Poyn- 
ings was sent over as Deputy, and under his auspices 
a Parliament was held at Drogheda which found the 
Earl guilty of treason. Kildare was sent to the Tower 
of London. 


This Irish Parliament passed what is known as 
Poynings’ Law. In 1460, when Richard of York was 
Lord Lieutenant and eager to conciliate the Anglo- 
Irish nobles, the Irish Parliament passed an Act de- 
claring that Ireland could only be bound by laws of 
its own Parliament. Under Poynings, it was enacted 
in 1494, first, that all Acts of the English Parliament 
passed up to then should hold good in Ireland; and 
next, that no Parliament should be held in Ireland 
unless the King were first informed what laws were to 
be proposed in it and gave his consent to their intro- 
duction—in this way leaving it much less free than 
the English Parliament. 

Poynings stayed for two years in Ireland. But 
Kildare’s partisans created much disorder in the Pale, 
and in 1495, Warbeck landed again at Cork and was 
again backed by Desmond—while, for a second time, 
Waterford resisted. Henry came to the conclusion 
that things had been better under Kildare’s rule, and 
caused the Earl to be confronted with his accusers 

Hot-tempered, outspoken, and courageous, Earl 


THE END OF FEUDALISM ts 


Garrett evidently had the personal charm which was 
hereditary in his house. The line which he took is 
indicated by the famous story. ‘‘Being charged before 
Henry for burning the church of Cashel, and many 
witnesses prepared to avouch against him the truth 
of that article, when it was looked how he would 
justify the matter, ‘ By heaven,’ quoth he, ‘ I would 
never had done it, had it not been told me that the 
archbishop was within.’ And because the archbishop 
was one of his accusers then present, the king 
merrily laughed at the plainness of the noble man.’’ 

The last article of the attainder ran in these terms: 
““ Finally, all Ireland cannot rule this Earl!’’ ‘‘No,”’ 
quoth the King; ‘* then in good faith shall the Earl 
rule all Ireland.’’ 

These stories, whether accurate or no, were written 
down within the following century, and they put 
dramatically the truth, which is, that Henry VII de- 
termined to try in Ireland personal government by the 
strongest Anglo-Irish nobleman. Kildare was restored 
and sent back to Ireland as Lord Deputy. 

He had been accused of treachery for acting in 
consort with ‘‘ Irish enemies,’’ but he now made his 
bond closer than ever with Hugh Roe O’Donnell. 
There was discord among the O’Neills. Conn, 
Kildare’s brother-in-law, was slain by a rival, and in 
the strife for succession that followed, O’Donnell 
backed one claimant, and Kildare came down with all 
the Crown’s forces to support O’ Donnell. 

The O’Neill stronghold had been for long fixed at 
Dungannon, the centre .of their territory; and here, 
like all the Irish chieftains of that day, they had built 
a strong castle. But Kildare brought against it the 


138 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


new arm, cannon, and quickly breached it. This 
marks an epoch. Attack now had the better of 
defence in sieges: but the means of attack was so 
costly that only the great powers could have it, 
Central government was strengthened by this 
invention, and could no longer be thwarted for months 
by some petty baron or chief with a strong well- 
situated piece of masonry. 

O’Donnell, who was now by far the most important 
Gaelic king, acted steadily with Kildare. The Deputy 
had a quarrel with Burke of Clanrickarde, for mis- 
using his wife, Kildare’s daughter, and for oppressing 
the O’Kellys, who appealed for justice. O’Donnell 
had for forty years been making war on the Galway 
Burkes, and now, in 1504, he marched against them, 
having with him the Burkes of Mayo. O’Conor and 
MacDermot from Roscommon, O’Reilly from Cavan, 
O’Farrell from Longford, and O’Conor Faly from 
Offaly—the last being connected by marriage with 
both O’Donnell and Kildare—supported O’Donnell. 
The O’Neills came also, led by a son of Kildare’s 
sister; and this Irish host made its junction with 
Kildare and his English at Knocktoe, eight miles east 
of Galway, in Clanrickarde’s country. Clanrickarde 
had with him the ‘‘rising out’’ of Thomond—O’Briens . 
and Galway Burkes were generally allies against out- 
siders, though they fought each other—and there 
were O’Carroll of Ely and other chiefs from the region 
between Thomond and Ormond’s domains. The 
Butler power took no hand in this great battle. 

Clanrickarde and Munster were wholly defeated by 
Kildare and Leath Cuinn—the northern half of Ireland. 


THE END OF FEUDALISM 139 


The town of Galway apparently stood neutral, and 
next day opened its gates to the victors. 

Hugh Roe died in the following year, 1505. He 
had reigned since 1461, and had made Tyrconnell 
fully the equal of Tyrone. In his own territory, the 
peace was so well established, say the Annalists, 
“* that there was no defence made of houses except to 
close the door against the wind only.’’ His son, 
Hugh Oge, who succeeded him, kept up his tradition; 
and in 1510 he was strong enough to leave his king- 
dom and go on a journey to Rome, where he was 
honourably received by the Pope. And he spent four 
months going, and four months coming, on visits to 
London, where the young King Henry VIII entertained 
him and knighted him. Throughout his life, Hugh 
Oge, and his son after him, adhered to Hugh Roe’s 
policy of supporting an English central power that 
treated the Irish rulers as friends. 

When the Great Earl died, his son, Garrett Oge, 
continued his father’s policy, and was a great man of 
war, punishing the Irish lesser kingdoms severely 
when they attacked the English settlements. But he 
remained in close friendship with O’Donnell, and the 
son of the Great Earl’s sister, Conn Bacagh (the lame) 
O’Neill, was now lord of Tyrone. 

But the monarchy of Henry VIII, guided by Wolsey, 
an able churchman of low origin, was now seeking to 
end the existence of subject powers that were too 
powerful. Undoubtedly, an Earl of Kildare could at 
any time from 1470 onward have rebelled with great 
hope of success: and in the south of Ireland Kildare’s 
kinsman, the Earl of Desmond, was almost indepen- 
dent. In 1519, Earl Garrett Oge was summoned to 


140 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


London to answer charges of treason, and for four 
years he was detained. But things went ill in his 
absence, and when he came back in 1523, restored to 
his office, Conn O’Neill acted as his sword-bearer. 

But the English Crown had some reason to fear the 
greatness of all these kings and earls. Hugh Oge 
O’Donnell had been on a visit to the court of Scotland, 
like his father; and though it is said that he advised 
James IV against invading Ireland, no doubt the 
project was discussed. There was more danger in 
Munster. Henry VIII being at war with France in 
1523, the ruling Earl of Desmond entered into corres- 
pondence with the French king, Francis I. News of 
this came to the English court, and Desmond was 
ordered to London. When he refused to appear in 
London, Kildare as Deputy was ordered to make him 
prisoner. But Desmond retreated before him, and 
Kildare was again accused of allowing his kinsman 
to escape: and in 1528, Desmond was again intriguing 
abroad, this time with the Emperor Charles V, for an 
expedition from Spain. Desmond claimed that he 
could put ten thousand men into the field. He had a 
trading fleet of his own, worked by Irish seamen. But 
he admitted that he lacked artillery. The emperor 
sent an envoy who reported that Desmond’s guard 
was admirably furnished with mail, and that his 
dominions seemed to be the best governed in Ireland. 
In short, he was a formidable independent Norman- 
Irish prince, not a subject; and he was allied by 
marriage to the independent kingdom of Thomond, 
his wife being an O’Brien princess. And Thomond 
again was allied to the Burkes of Clanrickarde. It is 
not surprising that England was uneasy. 


THE END OF FEUDALISM IAI 


In 1527, as before, Kildare, who was in truth 
perfectly loyal to the king, succeeded in downfacing 
his accusers and returned to his office. In 15209, the 
rebellious Earl of Desmond died, leaving no son, and 
the danger in Munster lessened. 

But meantime, Kildare, besieging a castle on the 
borders, got a bullet wound which partly paralysed 
him and affected his speech. Meantime also, the 
quarrel was growing up which had so disastrous 
results in Ireland. Henry VIII had quarrelled with 
the Pope, and set up his claim to be head of the 
Churchin his own dominions. The house of Ormond was 
connected by marriage with Sir Thomas Boleyn, Anne’s 
father, and could naturally be expected to side with 
the king, who wanted to make their cousin his queen. 
But neither Kildare nor Desmond could be so counted 
on. Wolsey’s successor, Thomas Cromwell, was eager 
to destroy the Geraldine power, and, in 1534, the earl 
was once more accused and brought to London. He 
appointed his son to act as Deputy in his absence. 
This young man, only twenty one, was splendid in 
appearance, and much loved by all the Geraldine clan, 
who called him Silken Thomas. The Earl in London, 
ill able to speak, lacked his former power to rout his 
accusers. He was long detained, and in summer Sir 
Thomas Skeffington one of his enemies, was 
appointed Deputy. A deep plot was laid, and one of 
the Geraldine clan received a letter reporting, falsely, 
that the earl had been executed, and that his son 
would presently suffer the same. Silken Thomas took 
the advice of those who urged rebellion. While the 
Council, or Cabinet, was sitting in St. Mary’s Abbey, 
he rode up from Maynooth with his troop of horse, 


142 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


entered the Chamber, and flung down the Sword of 
State. ‘‘I am none of Henry’s Deputy, I am his 
foe,’’ he said. The Archbishop of Armagh, then 
Lord Chancellor, pleaded with the young man. But 
Thomas’s retinue laughed at his ‘‘ preaching,’’ and 
the hereditary bard of the Kildares, O’Kennedy, 
chanted a song in Irish describing the glory of the 
Geraldines in war. And so the rebellion began. 

Silken Thomas then wrote to the head of the 
Ormond family in Ireland, offering to divide the 
kingdom with him. But the Butler answered that he 
would rather die his enemy than live his partner. 

All the Irish of Leinster, and Thomas’s cousin, Conn 
O’Neill of Tyrone, took the freld. But they were not 
strong enough to capture Dublin; and the Butlers, 
though defeated, still resisted. The Desmond 
earldom was in feeble hands; yet its rulers and Conor 
O’Brien, the last independent King of Thomond, 
renewed their correspondence with the emperor, 
asking for help, especially for munitions. Help did 
not come, and artillery proved decisive. After many 
months of desultory war, Skeffington, the Deputy, 
brought cannon against Maynooth, which all Ireland 
believed to be impregnable. But the guns breached 
it. The Kildare stronghold fell, and all the garrison 
were put to death. After this, support fell away 
from Silken Thomas. He was now the Earl, for his 
father had died in prison; and when Lord Leonard 
Grey came over to carry on the war, he surrendered, 
hoping for protection because Grey’s sister had been 
second wife to Earl Garrett Oge. He was sent to 
London, and there, after some months, he and five of 
his father’s brothers were put to death. Yet there 


THE END OF FEUDALISM 143 


was still a male heir to the Geraldines—the twelve- 
year old son of Garrett Oge by his second marriage; 
and this boy was living in Offaly, where O’Conor’s 
wife was also of the Kildare house. He had small- 
pox, but in spite of his illness he was carried across 
the Shannon to Thomond, where Conor O’Brien gave 
him protection. For two years this war went on. 
The king’s forces under Grey—a very able soldier— 
allied to Butler, were employed to capture the young 
Geraldine, but the whole of Gaelic Ireland gave him 
protection. When Thomond was attacked, he was 
passed into Desmond, and thence to MacCarthy 
Reagh’s country: later again, back through Desmond, 
and into Thomond, and through Clanrickarde, up to 
the Mayo Burkes, who passed the fugitive across the 
Erne to Tyrconnell. So completely had the Earls of 
Kildare won Ireland to their side. 

Finally, however, when Grey had defeated the com- 
bined forces of O’Neill and O’Donnell, with allies also 
from North Connacht, the league broke up. Gerald 
Fitzgerald was smuggled out to Flanders, and one by 
one the Irish rulers made submission. On the other 
hand, Henry’s government introduced a new policy. 

sir Anthony St. Leger came over in 1540 as 
Deputy, and began negotiations. There had been a 
disputed succession in Desmond, and the claimant 
whom the English supported was killed. But now 
the Irish claimant made full submission and was 
accepted as earl. Then MacWilliam Burke of Clan- 
rickarde also gave allegiance, and asked for an 
earldom. He was told that he must come to London, 
where Henry desired to impress the Irish with the 
splendour of his Court. Thomond now found itself 


144 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


left by its allies. Conor, the last independent king, 
had died in 1539, and the new ruler, Murrough, 
decided also to submit. O’Neill did the same, and 
was solemnly invested as Earl of Tyrone by Henry 
in person. Burke and O’Brien were in the same way 
made Earls of Clanrickarde and of Thomond. 
O’ Donnell also submitted. 

A Parliament was held in Dublin in 1541, at which 
nearly all the leading Gaelic chiefs were present, 
though not as members of it. This was an immense 
change. It meant that the sovereignty of the English 
king was admitted in every part of Ireland, and also 
that the Irish kings renounced their own kingship 
and accepted the position of territorial nobles under 
the English Crown, having titles that would pass 
according to the English law of succession. Thus the 
right which the peoples in their territory possessed 
of choosing their ruler was abolished. Also, it meant 
that the ruler was now given as his personal property 
the land which he enjoyed as chief. The only power 
given to him in his country was the power of 4 
landlord; but by English law the landlord had power 
over the tenants and tillers of the soil which no Irish 
ruler possessed. 

But these changes were not really accepted in 
Gaelic Ireland. They were resisted by the nobles in 
each kingdom, who thought they had a chance of 
becoming rulers, and were now cut out by the new 
law. In Thomond, after a long struggle, the earldom 
%yecame a settled thing. In Tyrconnell, it was not 
accepted. In Tyrone, resistance to the principle 
caused fierce wars. 

But the real cause why Henry VIII’s policy of 


THE END OF FEUDALISM 145 


conciliation Failed, was that he did not enlist the Irish 
people as a whole on his side. It was never made 
the law that Irish men of the native race should have 
equal rights before the law with the settlers and their 
descendants. All that had been done was to give a 
certain number of Irish chieftains the same rights as 
were possessed by English nobles in their territory. 
They acquired the same rights as English nobles had 
against the “‘ mere Irish.’?~ But the ‘‘ mere Irish’’ 
received no advantage to compensate them for the 
protection which they had from Irish law under a 
native Irish ruler. 

Also, the new trouble had begun, that was to lead 
to horrors in Ireland far worse than any yet. When 
all Ireland outside the Pale and the Butler territory 
rose in defence of the young Geraldine, priests and 
friars inflamed the resistance by preaching that Henry 
was a heretic, and that resistance was a sacred duty. 
Yet the conflict did not become extreme at once. 
When submission was made in 1541, those Irish and 
Norman Irish who attended the Parliament agreed to 
recognise the king’s sovereignty, and to renounce 
‘the Bishop of Rome.’’ They admitted Henry’s claim 
to be head of the Church, and Henry VIII emphasised 
it by changing his title. Henry II had claimed to hold 
Ireland by the Pope’s grant, and had adopted the title 
‘‘Dominus Hiberniz.’’ Henry VIII changed this to 
‘« King of Ireland.’’ 

But it is certain that when the Earl of Desmond, 
the rulers of Tyrone, Tyrconnell, Thomond, and the 
rest agreed to ‘‘ renounce the Bishop of Rome,’’ they 
had no sort of idea that they were asked to change 
their religion. 


(D 574) F 


CHAPTER XV. 


The Refermation and the Beginnings of 
Confiscation. 


THE close of Henry VIII’s reign is the middle point in 
the history of England’s rule in Ireland. Even at the 
end of the first three hundred and seventy years, con- 
quest was not complete. But under the Great Earls, 
Gael and Anglo-Irish had drawn closer together: and 
now St. Leger’s rule was recognised as just. When 
he was accused, the Norman-Irish Earl of Desmond 
with the Irish Earls of Tyrone and Thomond as well 
as other Gaelic nobles, wrote to praise him, saying 
that the oldest man in Ireland had not seen the 
country so peaceful as under his rule. From this 
time onward, the history changed terribly for the 
worse. Religion embittered the whole. 

In England, as in Scotland, a popular movement 
among the poor had spread the new teaching very 
widely, but this had no counterpart in Ireland; and 
no attempt was made in Henry VIII’s reign to convert 
Ireland to Protestantism or to introduce it by force. 

During the centuries of Norman rule, Ireland 
showed no special religious fervour, though the 
monks and friars, especially the Franciscans, did 
much good work; and they were not accused, even by 
their opponents later, of such faults of morals as were 
charged against them elsewhere. But in Europe the 
Reformation had produced a Counter-Reformation, 

146 


THE BEGINNINGS OF CONFISCATION 147 


and the Jesuit Order was founded by Ignatius Loyola. 
In 1542, some of his companions, chosen by him, 
undertook a mission to stir up religious zeal in 
Ireland. They got no encouragement, and in six 
weeks were forced to quit the country.. But under 
the boy king, Edward VI, active Protestants came 
into power; and, by a simple order in the king’s name, 
the saying of Mass was forbidden, and the use of the 


Anglican service ordered. Very few Protestant 
divines made any attempt to teach the new doctrines, 
and those who did, knew no Irish. It is not sur- 


prising that Protestantism made no advance, and that 
Catholics in Ireland began to be anti-English. 

Then came the reign of Queen Mary. No Protes- 
tants in Ireland were persecuted for their belief, for 
there were none to persecute. Some of the Catholic 
bishops who had been deprived were put back. These 
were nearly all English, for the order had had no 
effect in Gaelic Ireland. As for the right to make 
and unmake bishops, the Catholic Queen Mary 
claimed it just as her father did; and she restored 
nothing to the monasteries, much of whose property 
had been confiscated under Henry VIII. Also, in the 
reign of this Catholic sovereign, the policy was begun 
which led to sixty years of almost continuous war and 
to another century of war at intervals. 

Under Edward VI, English forces had driven out 
‘the chiefs of the O’Mores from Leix, and of the 
O’Conors from Offaly, and posted garrisons there. 
It was now proposed to ‘‘ plant’’ these countries 
with English. Speculators undertook to pay rent for 
tracts of the land and settle them with colonies of 
English farmers—who must be armed men. O’Mores 
and O’Conors were put out of their hereditary lands. 


148 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


This was a terrible injustice, because these Irish were 
the queen’s subjects, whose rulers had made sub- 
mission lawfully under Henry VIII. Leix was turned 
into Queen’s County, with Maryborough for its chiet 
town; and Offaly into King’s County, and Fort 
Dangan became Philipstown. 

This was a very different way of dealing with 
Ireland either from that of Kildare—who had married 
his sister to the chief of Offaly—or of St. Leger, who 
proposed that O’Conor Faly should get a peerage. 
Neither O’Conors nor O’Mores submitted, and the 
war to drive them out lasted fifty years. 

Other causes of war broke out in Clanrickarde and 
in Thomond, where the earls created by Henry VIII 
died. Their sons now inherited by law; but in both 
regions a rival claimant had popular support, and was 
by Gaelic law entitled to be chosen as chief. In each 
case, however, this was finally settled according to 
English law, and the Earl of Thomond and the Earl 
of Clanrickarde both became a support to the English 
rule. But in Tyrone it was not so. When Conn 
Bacagh O’Neill was created earl, he insisted that his 
legitimate son, Shane, then an awkward, backward 
boy, should be passed over, and that an elder son, 
Mathew, of illegitimate birth, should be created 
Baron of Dungannon, with right to succeed to the 
earldom. But Shane grew up into a formidable 
youth, and asserted his title and made war on Mathew 
the Baron, who was killed. Next year, the old Earl 
Conn died, and Shane was chosen O’Neill by the 
people. But Mathew had left two sons, and by English 
law the elder was entitled to inherit the earldom. 

Thus, when Elizabeth came to the throne in 1550, 
she found her first great Irish war ready made. 


THE BEGINNINGS OF CONFISCATION 149 


Shane was asserting himself on all sides. He 
attacked the O’Donnells, who at first inflicted a great 
defeat on him by the ford at the head of Lough Swilly 
at Letterkenny—the scene of many battles. But two 
years later he surprised Calvagh O’Donnell, and 
carried him off a prisoner, and took his wife. Having 
crippled Tyrconnell, Shane struck south as well, 
and soon made himself lord of all Ulster—and 
even to the very Boyne at Drogheda. But he was 
hampered by having on his flank the growing power 
Seine we ocottish:’ }Gaels* and) their chiefs the 
MacDonnells, who now held the Antrim coast from 
Dunluce, their great fortress, to Island Magee. 

Also, Shane had the greater part of the old Anglo- 
Irish against him, and some of the Irish. On one 
expedition, Elizabeth’s Deputy took the field, atterrded 
by five Irish earls: Gerald of Kildare (who had been 
pardoned and restored in Mary’s reign): Ormond 
(Elizabeth’s cousin and friend whom she called ‘‘Black 
Tom’’), Desmond, Clanrickarde, and Thomond. But 
they could effect nothing; and Sussex, having also 
failed to induce one of Shane’s servants to poison his 
master, made terms. On a safe conduct signed by 
the five Irish earls, Shane went to London, attended 
by his gallowglasses, who, with their moustaches, 
leathern mantles, long swords and axes, made a great 
sensation. For a year he was kept at Elizabeth’s 
Court, and meanwhile in Ireland the elder son of 
Mathew Baron Dungannon was murdered. Elizabeth 
ordered the surviving son to be fetched and brought 
up at her Court. This was the famous Hugh O’Neill. 
Then at last Shane was allowed to return. His 
power grew fast, and he inflicted heavy defeat on the 


150 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


MacDonnells and then forced them to surrender Dun- 
luce by threatening to starve their chief, Sorley Boy, 
who was his prisoner. He refused the Earldom of 
Tyrone with contempt. His ancestors, he said, were 
kings of Ulster, and he would keep their lands. 
‘* With this sword I won them, and with this sword I 
will keep them.’’ The English admitted that they 
could do nothing to curb this hard fighter. But Shane 
fell by his own countrymen. A new O’Donnell, Hugh 
Dubh, had succeeded to Calvagh, Shane’s prisoner; 
and, in 1567, Shane advanced to conquer Tyrconnell. 
Hugh had only four hundred men to stand against 
the enemy when Shane and his men forded the Swilly 
at low tide. But they fought so bitterly that they 
routed the O’Neill host, whose retreat was now cut 
off by the rising flood. Shane escaped almost alone, 
and he had foes everywhere. By a desperate resolve he 
pushed to the encampment of the MacDonnells, near 
Cushendun in the Glens. He had Sorley Boy with him, 
still his prisoner, and hoped to be saved in exchange. 
But in a quarrel after dinner the MacDonnells stabbed 
him to death, and his head was taken to Dublin 
Castle. 

So ended Elizabeth’s first great war; or rather, so 
it was ended for her. Shane O’Neill fought for his 
own hand, but also for the traditional Gaelic order 
which had been surrendered by all Gaelic Ireland 
under Henry VIII. The later wars in this reign were 
made by men fighting for two things: to keep their 
land and to keep their religion. Elizabeth the 
Protestant approved the policy of ‘‘ plantation ’’ as 
thoroughly as did the Catholic Mary, and carried it 
out as ruthlessly. 


THE BEGINNINGS OF CONFISCATION 15! 


In considering this very horrible period in Irish 
history, we have to try to be fair. No one can 
reasonably blame Elizabeth or any other of the 
English sovereigns for keeping possession of Ireland, 
or using all honourable means to put down rebellion. 
No prince would have felt justified then in surren- 
dering territory. But it was understood that a prince 
should do justice between his subjects: and treachery 
was condemned. It shows a lowered standard of 
morals that Elizabeth’s Deputy should write to her of 
his repeated attempts to poison Shane. And as the 
reign advanced, treachery grew blacker and more 
murderous. The only explanation, and it is not an 
excuse, is that the Englishmen of Elizabeth’s day did 
not admit that Irishmen had the right to fair dealing. 
This was very different from Kildare’s standard: and 
indeed, even in this reign, Ormond, on the Queen’s 
side, always dealt fairly. But it was an age of 
adventurers. The world had run mad with hearing 
the tales of Spain’s conquests in America. And 
Elizabeth’s courtiers, vying with the Spaniards in 
enterprise, vied also with them in ruthlessness and 
cruelty. 

It may be said with justice that Elizabeth had no 
choice but to fight Shane O’Neill. He rebelled against 
the policy which had been accepted by the whole of 
the Irish nobles in the day of Henry VIII; and he 
refused to accept the position of an Irish noble hold- 
ing rank from the English Crown. But the later and 
far more destructive wars of her long reign were wars 
into which the Irish were driven. Her government 
was the worst that Ireland had yet known because 
it was the most unjust. 


152 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Mary had begun the policy of confiscating the 
lands of the native Irish and allowing English adven- 
turers to buy them for settlement. Elizabeth carried 
this much further. In Ireland, which for nearly four 
hundred years had been under the British Crown, she 
gave license to private adventurers to occupy and 
settle tracts of it by force of arms. This was done 
even in cases where the chief occupying the territory 
had stood by the English. Sir Bryan MacPhelim 
O’Neill, chief of the O’Neills of Clandeboye, who had 
fought hard against Shane, was in this way driven 
into revolt. Then he submitted; his surrender was 
accepted; but finally he and his nobles were invited to 
a banquet by Essex, Elizabeth’s favourite courtier, 
then Governor of Ulster. The whole—over two 
hundred people—were treacherously massacred. 
Three years later, a section of the O’Mores in Leix 
who had made terms with the English, were 
summoned for a peaceful parley to the Rath of 
Mullaghmast. Again there was a sudden attack by 
a concealed body of soldiers, and the whole party 
was slain. In both these cases, those who organised 
the butchery were rewarded with the lands of those 
who were slain. It is true that the original Norman 
conquest was a series of confiscations after killing. 
But these things happened under Elizabeth in a land 
which Elizabeth’s predecessors had claimed to rule for 
centuries. Naturally, all the Irish were led to believe 
that they could expect no justice from the English 
Crown; and the English Crown was now undertaking 
to govern Ireland directly through its own appointed 
ministers, and no longer through the great Anglo- 
Irish nobles, who shared Irish feelings. 


THE BEGINNINGS OF CONFISCATION 153 


Even after the fall of the Kildares had abolished 
such rule in the northern half of Ireland, the Earl of 
Desmond remained supreme in Munster. For the 
greater part of Elizabeth’s reign, up to 1578, the 
Lord Deputy was Sir Henry Sidney, father of the 
famous Philip, and also a man of high honour and 
ability. Understanding that Munster and Connacht 
could not be governed like the Pale, his policy was 
to set up a government in each of these provinces 
under a President named from England, but having a 
local Council. When the Earl of Desmond caused 
trouble, he arrested him and sent him to London. 
Desmond himself would have submitted; but a rebel- 
lion of the Geraldines was headed by the earl’s cousin, 
James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald. Sidney dealt with this 
by prompt action, without slaughter. Peace seemed 
to be restored. But Fitzmaurice fled to Spain. 

Here, two things must be remembered. On the one 
hand, Fitzmaurice could never have stirred up the 
rebellion, for Sidney was both feared and respected, 
were it not that the treatment of the Kildares, and 
much more lately of Sir Bryan O’Neill and of the 
O’Mores, had led everyone in Ireland to expect 
barbarous injustice from Elizabeth’s Government. 
On the other hand, Elizabeth had a reason to fear 
Ireland which no English sovereign ever felt before 
her. Under her reign, England had become a great 
Protestant power; and the great Catholic powers in 
Europe, especially Spain, were urged by the Catholic 
Church to crush England. Religion was by no means 
their sole motive, but it was one of their motives. 
Now, Ireland was entirely Catholic. So far as the 
mass of the people was concerned, no one had tried 


154 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


to convert them to Protestantism. Their leaders, 
both Irish and Norman-Irish, were Catholic—except 
Elizabeth’s cousin, the Earl of Ormond. But by an 
order of the Government, Protestant clergy had been 
put in possession of their churches wherever the 
English rule was strong, and a law was passed for- 
bidding celebration of Mass. As a consequence, 
missionaries from Rome, especially the Jesuits, were 
working among them with great fervour; and these 
men, risking their lives for what they believed, had a 
great effect. Elizabeth was bound to assume that 
Ireland was hostile to her, as a Protestant sovereign. 
And she knew also that Spain would gladly help revolt 
in Ireland. 

Yet nobody seriously attempted to force the re- 
formed religion on Connacht, or on Munster outside 
of the towns; and, in Ulster, Tyrone and Tyrconnell 
were still independent. In Connacht and Thomond a 
commission was set up to distribute authority and fix 
the ownership of land. The Earls of Clanrickarde and 
Thomond guided the settlement, and though the 
English system was substituted for the Irish, a 
numerous gentry of small landholders, mainly Gaelic, 
was put in possession. It may be regarded as the 
first Land Act—an attempt to do justice by English 
ideas. This ‘‘ Composition of Connacht’’ was cer- 
tainly accepted by Connacht generally. Munster 
might also have been pacified; but, in 1579, James 
Fitzmaurice landed in Kerry from Spain—accom- 
panied by priests who preached rebellion as a sacred 
duty. After hesitation, the Earl of Desmond joined. 
Even in the Pale, an Anglo-Irish Catholic lord—Lord 


THE BEGINNINGS OF CONFISCATION 155 


Baltinglass—fell in. Insurrection spread in Ulster. 
But Hugh O’Neill, Baron of Dungannon since his 
brother’s death, refused to join it. 

A small force of Spaniards landed at Smerwick in 
the Dingle peninsula, and entrenched themselves at 
a place called Fort del Oro—Dutnandir. But they 
were not strong enough to take the field: and the 
Lord Deputy, Grey, came down with cannon and 
breached the defences. The Spaniards surrendered, 
and were all put to the sword. After this, Grey set 
himself to beat down war by destroying all food in 
West Munster; and Desmond, at large in the northern 
part, did the same by Ormond’s territory. Famine 
was universal. Inthe end, the Government and 
Ormond triumphed, and Desmond was captured and 
slain. Then peace was restored. In 1585, a Parlia- 
ment was summoned by the Lord Deputy Perrott, at 
which nearly all the chiefs of Gaelic Ireland were 
present, and Hugh O’Neill was made Earl of Tyrone. 
Once more Ireland might have been pacified by jus- 
tice. But injustice was done. 

The country over which Desmond had _ ruled 
was treated as forfeit and divided up among English 
adventurers. Over 200,000 acres were granted to 
‘undertakers ’’ who undertook to plant none but 
English. Yet, in point of fact, though men could be 
found in plenty to own land and charge rent for it, 
English settlers ready to work it were few; and the 
Irish crept back, illegally, paying bribes to return and 
till the land as before. But there was this difference, 
that their new masters could exact from them what- 
ever they chose, 


CHAPTER XVI. 
Hugh O’Neill and Red Hugh O’Donnell. 


HISTORY teaches everywhere that in the rule of one 
race by another, injustice produces rebellion. It 
teaches also that such rebellion is held, by those who 
have done the injustice, to prove wickedness in those 
who rebel, and to justify other and greater severities. 
Relations between England and Ireland, which in the 
reign of Henry VIII seemed turning to something 
better than they had been, were under Elizabeth 
made worse than ever; and the poet Spenser, who 
lived some years in Ireland, though a gentle and 
humane man in his poetry, did not hesitate to 
recommend killing out the whole native Irish race. 
By general agreement, England’s dealings with 
Ireland have been the least creditable thing in 
England’s history—and students ought to understand 
why. At this period the actions of the ruling power 
were not only unjust, but brutal and treacherous to 
a degree which cannot be excused even by the stan- 
dards of that time. And when the stronger and 
more civilised power is unjust, brutal, treacherous, 
to the weaker, one of the worst results is that the 
weaker also is demoralised. We may as well seek to 
justify the proceedings of the Inquisition in Spain as 
those of Elizabeth’s Government in Ireland: and each 
injustice, being committed and condoned, led always 
to worse. 


156 


HUGH O’NEILL AND HUGH O’DONNELL_ 157 


In Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham was President of 
the Province. Sir John Perrott, the Lord Deputy, 
appointed a Commission to enquire into his conduct, 
which found him guilty of breaking faith in his public 
actions and of permitting his troops to commit 
outrages. But Bingham appealed to the queen, and 
was kept in his position. 

Meanwhile in the north a gross act of public 
treachery had been committed. For more than a 
hundred years the O’Donnells of Tyrconnell had been 
in alliance with the English Crown, though retaining 
their independence. Hugh Dubh O’Donnell, who 
still reigned, had overthrown Shane O’Neill. In 1585, 
he had attended Perrott’s Parliament. He was old 
now, and had been twice married. His second wife 
was daughter of MacDonnell of the Glens, and grand- 
daughter of the Earl of Argyll; and his eldest son by 
her was a youth of great promise. It was intended 
that this son, called Red Hugh, should succeed Hugh 
Dubh, and everything was done to strengthen his 
influence. He was sent to be fostered in several 
households, not in one only. Among them was that 
of O’Cahan, chief among the chieftains in Tyrone. 
Finally, while still a mere boy, he was betrothed and 
married to Hugh O’Neill’s daughter. All this showed 
an intention to league together the three Gaelic 
powers of the north which had always been weakened 
by fighting among each other. And so Perrott, 
Elizabeth’s Lord Deputy, was anxious to. get 
possession of the boy. 

He therefore chartered a ship, loaded it with wine 
and ale, and sent it round to Lough Swilly. He 
probably had knowledge that Red Hugh was at this 


153 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


time staying with his foster-father, MacSwiney Doe, 
whose castle on Sheephaven was within an easy ride 
of Rathmullen, where the ship lay off the castle held 
by another MacSwiney. Hugh, as was expected, 
came over to the port on an excursion, and the 
MacSwiney of Rathmullen sent down to the ship for 
wine to entertain him and his company. Answer 
came that all the wine for sale was sold, but that if 
some of the gentlemen would come to the ship they 
should get entertainment. The party rowed out to 
the vessel, and only a few were allowed on board; 
wine was served in the cabin, and while the guests 
were drinking, the hatchway was shut down, sail was 
got on the ship, and she went out of Lough Swilly 
with the kidnapped prisoners. The boy was put into 
Dublin Castle. There he lived with a score of other 
hostages of the Irish. and Anglo-Irish, kept in 
durance like himself. They talked together, naturally, 
of England’s injustice, and the wrongs of the Irish. 

At this time, Hugh O’Neill had never drawn sword 
against the queen, but often against her enemies. 
He had been brought up at the English Court, had 
learnt soldiering in England, and was the personal 
friend of Elizabeth’s counsellors, to whom he wrote 
asking that his son-in-law should not be unjustly 
imprisoned. But Elizabeth herself directed that Red 
Hugh and the other young nobles who had been 
captured in his company should on no account be 
released. Perrott’s stroke of policy pleased her. 

In the meantime, FitzWilliam, Perrott’s successor, 
sent a force of soldiers, who occupied the monastery 
of Donegal and committed much violence on the 
people. Red Hugh lay in prison for three vears. 


HUGH O’NEILL AND HUGH O’DONNELL ~ 159 


Then he broke out with two other Donegal lads, a 
MacSwiney and an O’Gallagher, and escaped to the 
mountains where O’Toole, who held Glencullen, 
sheltered him, and sent for support to a stronger 
chief, Feagh MacHugh O’Byrne from Glenmalure. A 
flood stopped the O’Byrnes, and the fugitives were 
retaken. Hugh was now kept inirons. More than a 
year later, choosing Christmas night, he broke out 
again, this time with two sons of Shane O’Nelill. 
Feagh MacHugh had a guide to meet them. But 
snow fell, they were in no marching trim, and their 
guide had to leave them and fetch help. By the time 
he got back, one of the O’Neills was dead, and Hugh 
was at death’s door. Both his feet were frozen, and 
his great toes had to be cut off. He was indeed so 
ill that the escape north from Wicklow was doubly 
painful and difficult. Skill and courage accomplished 
it. All the fords of the Liffey were closely watched, 
but no one thought of his crossing where he did, at 
the very gate of Dublin Castle. He got shelter at 
Mellifont, which, after the dispossession of the 
monks, had been made over to Sir Garrett Moore; 
made his way through Dundalk, and so to Tyrone, 
where O’Neill received him secretly and forwarded 
him home to Ballyshannon. Immediately, this 
remarkable young man gathered a force and drove the 
English garrison out of Donegal. After this, Hugh 
Dubh resigned the power, and Red Hugh was solemnly 
chosen as chief. 

Hugh O’Neill had many bitter enemies, chief among 
them Bagenal, Provost Marshal of the queen’s armies. 
His sister had met Tyrone at the house of some 
English nobles in the Pale, had fallen in love with the 


160 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


earl, who sought her in marriage. When Bagenal 
refused his consent, she eloped with her lover and they 
were married. But O’Neill did his utmost to avoid 
war against the queen. It is probable that he desired 
to have in Ulster such a position as Ormond had in 
the south. When the’Lord Deputy called for forces 
to subdue Maguire of Fermanagh who had revolted, 
Tyrone prevented Red Hugh from joining Maguire, 
and took the field himself with the English army; but 
Bagenal, who commanded the English, quarrelled 
violently with his ally. Very soon O’Donnell was 
actively at war in support of Maguire: Enniskillen 
was recovered, and Red Hugh invaded Sligo and 
destroyed the castle there and thirteen others. By 
this time, both Red Hugh and O’Neill were 
negotiating with the King of Spain, and Red Hugh 
pushed his conquests in Connacht right down to 
Galway. A new military governor, Clifford, marched 
on the Erne to reach Tyrconnell, and he had the 
support of both Clanrickarde and Thomond, Catholic 
Irish chieftains, with whom fair dealing had been 
used. They crossed the Erne, and besieged Bally- 
shannon Castle, but could not take it, and O’ Donnell 
cut off their supplies and blocked all the regular fords 
over the Erne. The whole army must have surren- 
dered but that Clifford, a fine soldier, led his army 
across a most perilous passage above the salmon leap 
at Assaroe, which is called The Ford of the Heroes. 
He lost men there; he lost more in the retreat; but 
for his skill he would have lost all. The result was a 
severe check for the English. Finally, in 1598, an 
attempt in great force was made to reduce Tyrone, 
who was now openly supporting O’Donnell. The 


HUGH O’NEILL AND HUGH O’DONNELL 161 


command of the army—four thousand foot, three 
hundred and twenty horse, with four guns—was 
entrusted to Tyrone’s' brother-in-law, Bagenal, 
Marshal of Ulster. They met little serious opposition 
till they reached Armagh, which had been throughout 
this year in English hands. Their objective was to 
relieve an important fort recently erected called Port- 
more, which commanded the ford of the Blackwater, 
and so gave access to the heart of Tyrone’s country. 
Tyrone’s army was drawn up and entrenched at a 
place called the Yellow Ford, about three miles out of 
Armagh; O’Donnell was present, and provided about 
half the Irish force. The English had to pass through 
a bog before they reached the main trench, and they 
were attacked from both flanks. Struggling over the 
trench, they were sharply attacked and driven back 
on it. Bagenal was shot dead. The heaviest gun 
stuck in the bog, and its gun-team of oxen was shot 
down by O’Donnell’s marksmen. Finally, a powder- 
cart blew up, and all was confusion. About half the 
force were lost. No such defeat had been inflicted on 
the English in Ireland since the day of the Bruces. 
Insurrection now spread all over Ireland, though 
there was no general rising of the Irish. Thomond 
was divided. In Connacht, some of the O’Conors 
were opposed to O’Donnell. Of the old Norman-Irish, 
Clanrickarde was active for the queen; and so, of 
course, was Ormond. Yet some of the Butler stock, 
including Lord MountGarrett, because they were 
Catholics, jomed Tyrone, who by this time definitely 
took the lead. In Munster, the Geraldines rose and 
made James FitzThomas their leader. Tyrone, 
assuming a sovereign right, gave him the title of Earl 


162 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


of Desmond. English partisans called him the 
‘*Sugane’’ (or Hayrope) Earl. All the English 
plantation in Desmond was swept away. Its fate in- 
cluded Spenser, who had received a castle and lands 
at Kilcolman, near Buttevant. 

The queen sent over strong forces under Essex as 
Lord Lieutenant, but they effected nothing of impor- 
tance, and suffered considerable reverses. Clifford, 
now Governor of Connacht, was cut off by Red Hugh 
in the Curlew mountains, and slain. His men gave 
way to the terror which the Irish leaders had now 
inspired. Then Essex decided to parley. Tyrone 
said: ‘‘ They that are joined with me fight for 
the Catholic religion and liberties of our country.”’ 
There is no evidence that he claimed the withdrawal 
of English sovereignty. He did claim the restoration 
to their owners of all lands forfeited by confiscation 
for high treason. This meant undoing the plantations 
of Mary’s reign as well as of Elizabeth’s. 

But now Essex was recalled in disgrace, and Lord 
Mountjoy, a much abler man, was appointed. Sir 
George Carew, another stout soldier, became Presi- 
dent of Munster: and they had immense advantage in 
the possession of better cannon and more powder than 
Tyrone could procure. Also, in the north an impor- 
tant move was made which led to the foundation of 
a city as well as to the crippling of Red Hugh. 

During the war against Shane O’ Neill, an expedition 
occupied the hillock of Derry and built a fort there 
from which expeditions were launched against Shane. 
But after the explosion of a powder store the place 
was deserted. Now, in 1598, Sir Henry Docwra was 
sent to establish a fort there, and he soon built 


HUGH O’NEILL AND HUGH O’DONNELL 163 


housing for a thousand men. Sea-power thus 
enabled the English to establish themselves in a 
point to strike at O’Neill and O’Donnell from the rear. 
Red Hugh, who had gone down to attack Thomond 
and Clanrickarde, lest they should crush the Desmond 
revolt, left Derry to be besieged under his cousin, 
Niall Garbh O’Donnell, an able soldier, but one who 
thought he had a better right than Red Hugh to be 
chief. Docwra learnt this and won over Niall, who 
helped the English to capture the castle at Lifford, 
commanding the important crossing where the Finn 
and Mourne meet. Red Hugh had now revolt even in 
Tyrconnell: and in Munster, Carew hunted down the 
Sugane Earl, and with Mountjoy was destroying all 
crops. Then, in 1601, when Tyrone’s power seemed 
shaken, there came the promised help from Spain. 
Don Juan de Aquila, a famous general, landed at 
Kinsale with two thousand five hundred troops, and 
fortified himself in the town. Pedro Zubiaur, with a 
thousand men in six ships, having been driven apart 
from the main body, landed in Castlehaven. O’Sullivan 
Beare instantly marched from Bantry Bay to join 
Zubiaur, but the rest of Munster was cowed, and 
Tyrone and Red Hugh were in the north. Mountjoy 
and Carew were able to draw their armies together 
against Kinsale—Clanrickarde and Thomond joining 
them. Their forces consisted very largely of Irishmen 
who had been professional soldiers in the service of 
Irish chiefs, and had been driven to seek their fortunes 
as mercenaries. The city of Cork was strongly for 
the English. 

Tyrone made his way south through the east of the 
country. Red Hugh had first to put down Niall 


164 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Garbh’s party in Tyrconnell, and then march down 
along the Shannon. Carew was detached with strong 
forces to attack him before he could join Tyrone, but 
O’Donnell, by a march of forty miles, eluded him. 
Carew fell back on Mountjoy’s army before Kinsale, 
and the Irish army drew a line between it and Cork. 
Tyrone was for waiting till lack of supplies forced the 
English to move out, but Aquila pressed for an 
attack, eager to get in Zubiaur’s men. O’Donnell 
supported his view, and it was settled that the Irish 
army, having moved by night into its positions, should 
attack at dawn in three bodies. 

The movement was ill executed, and when battle 
was joined, the Irish, who for years had been success- 
ful, failed hopelessly. There was no great slaughter, 
but a general rout. Tyrone fell back on his own 
country, his allies leaving him in all directions. 
O’Donnell, foreseeing that the Spaniards would be 
forced to surrender, as it came to pass, decided that 
the only chance was to go to Spain and urge Philip to 
renew the attempt. He sailed at once, and was well 
received with good promises. But Spain delayed 
long, and, in October 1602, Red Hugh died at 
Simancas, poisoned by an Irish agent whom Carew 
had sent out for the purpose. 

In the north, Tyrone held out in his own country, 
then densely wooded and almost impassable, 
especially in the region west of Lough Neagh. The 
English generals pushed on with their campaign of 
starvation till Ulster was full of dead bodies—men, 
women and children. There are horrible descriptions 
of it. | But Elizabeth was dying, and it was known 
that her successor, James I of Scotland would make 


HUGH O’NEILL AND HUGH O’DONNELL 165 


easier terms than she with Tyrone. The English 
authorities, who hated Tyrone, were driven to give 
him terms that he could accept. Even before the 
surrender was complete, the queen died, and James of 
Scotland succeeded. Tyrone abandoned all right to 
rule as an Irish king, and he got no pledge of equality 
for the Catholic religion. But he was left Earl of 
Tyrone, with great possessions. At the same time, 
Red Hugh’s brother was created Earl of Tyrconnell. 
So, in 1003, ended the last independent Gaelic king- 
ship. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


The Flight of the Earls and the Plantation 
of Ulster. 


THE reign of James I marks the turning point in Irish 
history. Gaelic kingdoms and Norman lordships with 
their local armies were all at an end. Over the whole 
country the only army permitted was the army of the 
Crown, and the same law was administered by the 
same machinery of courts. One good came of it: 
there was peace. For nearly forty years, Ireland was 
free of war except for one brief rising. But it was 
not a peace that could last, because it was not 
a peace founded on justice. 

There was one great difficulty for which the English 
Government could not be blamed. Ireland had for 
centuries been “‘ a land of war,’’ with many petty 
rulers having the right to keep armed men in their 
employ, and it had become the custom to consider that 
a man of the class from whom the chiefs came could 
not honourably be anything but a fighting man. To 
work was held a degradation. Consequently, the 
country was full of swordsmen who could be nothing 
else. Some of them, as was natural, took to robbery; 
but very many, and especially the best of them, began 
to go to the continent and find employment in the 
armies of France or the Netherlands or Spain. The 
leaders by birth formed regiments from among the 
poorer people—and the English Government was glad 

166 


THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 167 


to see this going on. At first they tried to enlist 
soldiers for the armies of Sweden, then a great 
Protestant military power—or for the Polish armies, 
to fight against the Turks. But the Irish, being 
Catholics, very naturally preferred the Catholic 
armies, and also liked to make their career somewhere 
in the nearer parts of Europe instead of going away 
to the Polish frontier. And gradually a practice grew 
up of allowing the agents of France and Spain to send 
over recruiting officers to raise Irish regiments for 
service under a foreign power. It was a bad 
expedient, however, that forced a king to try to get 
tid of his subjects, and if equal chances had been open 
to them at home, many of the Irish nobles would have 
settled down either to farm or to enter the professions. 
But here the way was stopped. 

In order to enter the professions, they must get 
education, and there was no education provided in 
Ireland for Irish Catholics. | Worse than that, Irish 
Catholics were not allowed to supply themselves with 
education. For education, also, they had to go 
abroad. In the last years of Elizabeth’s reign, the 
English Government had done what should have been 
done two or three centuries earlier. It established 
the University of Dublin, and Trinity College was set 
upon the pattern of a famous college in Cambridge. 
But by the statutes of the university, only Protestants 
could be teachers: it was part of a general design to 
turn the Irish Catholics into Protestants. <A 
Protestant university and schools were set up: Catholic 
schools were closed. In considering this, we have to 
remember that the English Government, being 
Protestant, was only acting after the ideas of its time. 


168 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


In the most civilised nations of Europe, every govern- 
ment thought itself entitled to discourage in every 
way a religion which was not that of the soveriegn. 
But Ireland suffered exceedingly from the application 
of this idea: and even in those days a wise sovereign 
would have hesitated to destroy a system of 
education before he had something to put in its place. 

There were many Catholic schools in Ireland, and, 
in the reign of James, a Commission was set up to 
look into this. Its principal president was Ussher, 
the first Provost of Trinity College—a very great 
scholar and the first of the English educated men who 
began to study carefully the old literature and tradi- 
tions of Ireland. But he, with the Commission, went 
down to Galway, and examined the school kept there 
by Alexander Lynch, which had no fewer than one 
thousand two hundred students. The Commission 
reported that the scholars answered very well, both in 
English and in Latin; but that Lynch persisted in 
teaching according to the doctrines of the Catholic 
Church. They admonished him—if he would change 
his religion, he might keep his school open. But he 
refused, and his school was shut up. The Catholic 
rulers of France and Spain would have dealt in the 
same way with a Protestant school. It may be 
thought more blamable in Protestants, who stood for 
liberty of conscience. But Cromwell, who declared 
that everyone should have liberty of conscience, 
declared also plainly that this did not allow Mass to 
be celebrated. According to the idea of freedom 
which prevailed in England during the seventeenth 
century, the Irish people were not free to practise the 
religion in which they believed: and for two centuries 


THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 169 


they were punished with increasing severity for 
refusing to obey an order that they should change 
their faith. 

Ever since the Conquest, the rulers of Ireland had 
made a distinction between their subjects, giving 
privileges to one race over the other. From the time 
of James I onward, this was ended. The ‘‘ mere 
Irish ’’ could have all the rights of Enghsh law if they 
became Protestants. A notable example is afforded 
by the ruling family of Thomond. The O’Briens 
changed their religion, and henceforward had as good 
a position as any of the Irish or Anglo-Irish nobility. 
The same was true of any of the gentry—Irish or 
Anglo-Irish—who became Protestants: they took their 
position among those of purely English race. But 
since the vast majority of the Irish race refused to 
become Protestants, even although it paid to be a 
Protestant, there was in reality little change. The 
people of Gaelic stock, being Catholics, were kept at 
a disadvantage in their own country. They were, 
according to their own ideas, and according to the 
ideas held to-day by every educated Protestant, an 
oppressed people. 

Further than that, the break up of the Gaelic order 
had lamentable consequences. It caused the loss of a 
great deal of literature and learning. Every Gaelic 
chief had his own poet and his own historian, for 
whom provision was made at the public expense. But 
when there was no longer a ruler of Thomond or 
Tyrconnell, the learned men and the poets must 
become peasants, cultivating the ground, or starve. 
Some of the heads of great noble families maintained 
these men where they were able: but, on the whole, 


170 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the Gaelic poets were ruined. One of these bards, 
O Bruadair, wrote a song which James Stephens has 
translated:— 


‘* When the great ones were safe and renowned and 
were rooted and tough, 

Though my mind went to them and took joy in the 
fortune of those, 

And pride in their pride and their fame, they gave 
little enough, 

Not so much as two boots for my feet or one old 
suit of clothes.’’ 


Yet, for the mass of the people, the tillers of the 
soil, things were less bad. They took up their farms 
again, and the land began to prosper under their work. 
There was no scarcity of land, for war had terribly 
reduced the people—especially in Ulster: there was 
even room to bring in many more workers and give 
them farms without disturbing the actual occupiers. 
But, unhappily, something quite different was done. 

Tyrone, by holding out to the last, had secured—at 
terrible cost to his country—such terms for himself 
and the other chiefs that his surrender was not 
followed by any confiscation of their property. Those 
who had warred against him for years were furious 
to see him now present himself freely in Dublin, and 
even at the Court of King James: and they felt that 
they had not received the profit of their labour. Also, 
Tyrone himself, who had been a king, did not 
accustom himself to the change. He claimed a tribute 
from O’Cahan, one of his chief vassals; and when it 
was refused, proceeded to drive off O’Cahan’s cattle 
with an armed party. O’Cahan appealed to the law, 


THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 17! 


and both were summoned to London. This had been 
only one of many troubles, and Tyrone, convinced that 
he would be seized and imprisoned, decided on flight. 
The Earl of Tyrconnell, having the same fears, joined 
him; and, in August, 1607, the two with many Gaelic 
nobles of Ulster embarked at Rathmullen on a ship 
which they had chartered and sailed to the Low 
Countries whence after two years they went on to 
Rome, where both eventually died. This was the 
Flight of the Earls. Undertaken secretly without the 
king’s permission, by men who were in command of 
their territory, the escape was illegal, and accusation 
of treason was brought against them. The foreman 
of the Grand Jury which found that the accusation 
was justified was Sir Cahir O’Doherty, chief of 
Inishowen, a young Irish nobleman whom Sir Henry 
Docwra, Governor of Derry, had brought over to the 
English side. Yet when Docwra left Derry, his 
successor Paulet quarrelled with Sir Cahir and drove 
him into revolt. In the attack, Paulet was killed and 
Derry burnt. The rebellion was soon suppressed, 
and Sir Cahir fell in a fight near the Rock of Doon. 
Niall Garbh, who had turned against Red Hugh and 
had been rewarded with a large grant, was accused 
of complicity and imprisoned in the Tower of London, 
where he died. Peace was re-established. But the 
Government now decided to apply the policy of 
plantation on a greater scale than ever before. The 
estates of Tyrone and Tyrconnell and _ their 
supporters were declared forfeit, and these estates 
were held to cover not merely the land granted to the 
earls as personal possessions, but the entire area of 
six counties. Down and Antrim were not included: 


172 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the Gaels who held land there were largely 
MacDonnells and other Scots, for whom James had 
sympathy. Monaghan also was exempted. Over 
the remainder, the Crown claimed the right to redis- 
tribute every acre of land. Its claim did not rest on 
the mere right of conquest, but was established in 
courts of law—and Ireland was taught to feel how 
terrible an engine of oppression law can be when it 
is administered without justice. 

The whole of this territory had been for centuries 
under Irish law only. According to Irish law, the 
property which was held by the chief or king as 
belonging to his office passed at his death to his 
successor, who was chosen. But by English law, a 
ruler could only succeed by direct descent from the 
previous ruler: therefore, according to English law, 
all these successions were invalid; and when no title 
at English law could be proved, the land went to the 
Crown. Cn the other hand, private property, accord- 
ing to Irish law, was distributed among all the 
children of the holder: according to English law, it 
must pass to one heir. Here again, the English law 
said that it could not recognise claims to property 
based on a custom illegal by English law: and so 
these lands also were held to have no proper owner, 
and the Crown could dispose of them. But, in 
general the courts of English law avoided confis- 
cating tenures simply because Irish law had prevailed 
in the country, and they sought some simpler pretext. 
During the war with Shane O’Neill, the three counties 
of Derry, Armagh, and Tyrone had been declared 
confiscated. Elizabeth’s government was never able 
to make good the conquest of them, and other Irish 


THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 173 


lords had continued to hold these lands. These lords 
had at varying times made submission and had been, 
as everyone understood, confirmed in their holdings, 
which had passed on in time to others. But now the 
claim of the Crown, under an Act which had never 
been repealed, was set up. ‘‘ Time does not run 
against the king ’’ was a principle of English law. 
That is, the sovereign right could be asserted even 
after centuries, and even though the sovereign had 
acted as if the right did not exist. 

This confiscation of six Ulster counties was only 
the beginning of claims under English law which left 
everyone in Ireland uncertain of the property which 
he held. Three reasons were put forward for those 
seizures. The first was the distrust which the 
Protestant government felt for all Catholics: the 
second was the desire of the Crown to get more 
money by the sale of grants of land: the third, and 
the worst, was the greed of powerful persons who 
hoped to acquire more land by confiscation. 

These injustices hit mainly the richer people among 
the Irish, and they were not limited to Ulster. But 
the special evil in Ulster was the dispossession of 
the actual workers of the land. Chichester, the 
chief English statesman concerned with Ulster, held 
that the native Irish should first be given as much 
land as they could cultivate, and should get secure 
titles to it, and that at least half of the land should 
be used in this way. But the Council set up to deal 
with this matter decided to advertise the land for sale 
in great blocks varying from one thousand to two 
thousand acres. The first class of these were to go 
to ‘‘ undertakers,’’ who must build castles and keep 


174 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


trained men to defend them. This class was for- 
bidden to have any Irish as tenants: the intention was 
to have great tracts of country peopled only by 


English and Scots. The second class were 
“‘ servitors,’? men of military experience, and these 
were permitted to have Irish tenants. The third 


class were the native Irish, who received in all about 
fifty thousand acres of cultivable land. The servitors 
got about the same amount, making one hundred 
thousand acres of tillage available for the Irish. Bog 
and mountain were thrown in—about six acres to one 
of cultivable. Three hundred thousand acres of good 
land went either to the ‘‘undertakers’’ or the Church. 
Nearly all this was to be cleared of the Irish: only 
the bishops were alowed a proportion of Irish 
tenants. 

The most important lot of all went to the Corpora- 
tion of London. It included the city of Derry, which 
had not been rebuilt since Cahir O’Doherty burnt it, 
and the town of Coleraine, as well as the land 
between them, and the fishings of the Foyle and the 
Bann. This great tract was divided among the 
various City Guilds, but a special committee of them 
all, called the Irish Society, took charge of Derry, 
which began to be called Londonderry: and they soon 
made of it the most important town in Ulster. This 
was the chief and most valuable result of the Ulster 
Plantation. 

For it must be understood that the ‘‘ plantation ’”’ 
did not touch Antrim or Down, the two counties 
which have been most strongly Protestant. Here 
also, however, colonisation went on: there was great 
room for it, since, in the war against O’Neill, the 


THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER 175 


Gaelic population had been almost exterminated 
under Chichester’s command. Chichester himself 
received a grant of Belfast and the land about 
it; a century later, its growth began greatly to 
enrich his successors, the Marquises of Donegal. In 
Clandeboye, Conn O’Neill found it wise to make over 
two-thirds of the territory which came to him as 
chief to Sir Hugh Montgomery and Sir James 
Hamilton, both founders of famous Ulster families; 
and these Scottish baronets brought over many of 
their countrymen. The Scots made good settlers, 
partly because the climate and way of life was not 
unlike what they were used to, and also they really 
came to work the land. Tyrone and Armagh and 
Donegal got many Scots in the plantation: Fer- 
managh and Cavan were settled rather by men of 
English stock, who made Enniskillen a_ great 
Protestant stronghold. 

By 1641, there were at least one hundred thousand 
Protestants in Ulster: but the number of Irish was 
much larger. The policy of clearing tracts for solely 
Protestant settlement was never carried out, because 
there were not enough men to work the land, and the 
Irish everywhere bid for the use of it—naturally, since 
they had no other choice. But the English holders, 
except the servitors, were not permitted by law to 
grant them leases. Indeed, it was not then usual in 
any part of Ireland for the Irish to take land except 
on a yearly tenancy: it did not enter into the Irish 
mind that a tenant, so long as he paid his dues, might 
be put out of occupation. On the other hand, 
the English and Scottish settlers all came in as lease- 
holders, They would not have consented to come 


176 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


without the promise of security in their holdings. 
Gradually there grew up among them what came to be 
called the ‘‘ Ulster custom.’’ By it, a tenant, if he 
left his farm, had the right to sell the privilege of 
occupying his holding to a successor. In this way, 
he was paid for improvements made on the land: but, 
if he kept his farm in a bad condition, he could not 
get a good price for his ‘‘ tenant right.’’ 

The Catholic Irish, on the other hand, as they 
became accustomed to English law, began to desire 
the security given by leases. They also became 
bidders against the Protestant settlers for tenant 
right. They began to know what came to be called 
‘* land hunger.’’ Up to this point, there is no trace in 
Irish history of people struggling against each other 
to get the use of land in a country where land was 
necessary to earn a living. 

It must be remembered also that tens of thousands 
of the Irish were removed from the lands which they 
and their forefathers had lived on and worked, and 
were sent to take up new holdings, inferior to their 
old ones. Chichester foretold that a terrible rebellion 
would be the consequence; and he was right, though 
it did not come in his lifetime. But it came while most 
of those who were turned out of their lands could 
still bitterly remembér their banishment. 

In short, though the Ulster plantation did great 
service to Ireland, exhausted by long war, in bringing 
in a great body of new and valuable cultivators and 
town builders, it did also dreadful harm, because the 
plantation was carried out with no regard for the 
interest or the rights of the native people. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 
The Great Rebellion. 


THE injustice done in Ulster was so profitable that 
the Government and those who had power with it, 
sought to extend it elsewhere. In Longford, in 
Wexford, in West Meath, in Leix and Offaly, and in 
Leitrim, old claims for the Crown were set up by 
which the titles to land were disturbed. There was 
no rebellion or insubordination to justify these pro- 
ceedings: and over and above the unfair use of law, 
recourse was had to deliberate swindling: measure- 
ments were falsified in making surveys. There was 
not, however, in these counties any general removal 
of inhabitants; but, simply, large holdings were 
reduced without justice, and, what was worse, men 
holding small portions were not recognised as land- 
holders at all. Yet these men, who must necessarily 
farm their land if they were to live, were peasant 
proprietors—the most valuable class in a State: and 
the effect of these decisions was to turn them all into 
tenants, paying rent to some big landlord. 

Under Charles I, Strafford, the Lord Lieutenant, 
turned his eyes to Connacht. Here the ‘ composition ’ 
made in the latter years of Elizabeth’s reign had given 
definite holdings to a multitude of owners. It 
was more just and more willingly accepted than any 
other arrangement as to Irish land under English 
rule. Some legal forms were still necessary to make 

(D 574) 177 G 


178 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the whole complete. Strafford proposed to set the 
composition aside, and he forced juries in Con- 
nacht, by threats, to declare that all these titles to 
land were worthless. The jury in Galway refused 
whereupon he clapped them all in jail and fined them 
£4,000 apiece. This Connacht plantation, however, 
was not carried out, owing to Strafford’s fall. The 
English Parliament cut off his head for his actions in 
Ireland: yet not because he tried to confiscate Irish 
lands. 

Under the Stuarts, Irish history had become more 
disastrously entangled with British history than ever. 
One reason why James I’s reign is a turning point is 
that Parliaments began to matter. Elizabeth had 
been a despot, and no Parliament had power against 
her. James I was not so strong a ruler; and men, 
realising that the old ways of checking a monarch’s 
power by the power of great barons was ended, 
looked for a new way to control the king, by refusing 
to raise taxes. A Parliament was held in Ireland 
under James I, and under Charles I one was 
demanded. But the king, instead, called an informal 
assembly to which he pledged certain ‘‘ graces.’’ 
One promised some toleration to Catholics; another, 
that the Crown should not claim a title to a land which 
had been held without challenge for sixty years. 
This would have prevented many confiscations. In 
return for the promise, subsidies were promised and 
paid; but the ‘‘ graces’’ were not given, and Straf- 
ford became Lord Lieutenant. 

He was a vigorous ruler in many ways, and notably 
he put down piracy, from which the Irish coast 
suffered. In 1631, the town of Baltimore had been 


THE GREAT REBELLION 179 


sacked by Moorish galleys from Algiers who carried 
off more than a hundred people to be slaves. Straf- 
ford policed the seas, and he took in hand the 
formation of a small but excellent standing army— 
solely of Protestants. But when the Scots formed 
their Covenant and rose against Charles I, the king 
determined on raising an Irish army. Catholics were 
easier to get, and Strafford enrolled seven thousand 
of them, several regiments and companies being 
commanded by leading Anglo-Irish Catholics. Also, 
Roger O’More, one of the clan that once owned Leix, 
commanded a company. 

But England was fast turning against the king, and 
forced him to summon the Long Parliament. Then 
was immediately raised the cry that barbarous Irish 
Papists were being armed to crush the English. 
Strafford was indicted and sentenced to death: his 
Irish army was disbanded. They went to their homes 
trained soldiers. O’More, the ablest Catholic in 
Ireland, had joined with the Irish Puritans to 
denounce Strafford’s illegal oppression: but it was 
soon clear that the English Puritan Parliament was 
fiercely anti-Irish. It sent over, in place of Strafford, 
two Lords Justices—Parsons, and Borlase—from 
whom no concessions could be expected. And, there- 
fore, O’More turned his mind to armed rebellion. 
With England divided against itself, an English army 
was little to be feared; and throughout Ireland, 
except in Ulster, the English Protestants were a 
scattered body. 

The original plan was to seize Dublin Castle, where 
was a great supply of arms, and at the same time to 
rise against the Protestants all through Ulster. The 


180 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


day fixed was 23rd October, 1641. In Dublin, the 
plot was revealed at the last moment; yet, but for 
the drunken incompetence of O’More’s fellow- 
conspirators, the Castle could have been taken. The 
attempt on Derry also failed. But throughout the 
whole of Ulster, Protestants, taken by surprise, were 
overpowered—except in Antrim, where the Scots 
were at first unmolested. At best, the settlers were 
put out of house and land: but many were pillaged, 
and even gently-bred women were stripped naked: 
and, as ferocity spread, thousands were killed or died 
of exposure. Probably about one in every ten of the 
one hundred thousand Protestants in Ulster perished. 

So began a war which lasted twelve years, and of 
which the consequences for evil are not yet 
exhausted. There were ferocious reprisals, made 
both by the Scots in Ulster and by the forces under 
the Lords Justices in Leinster. It is a horrible period 
to look back on, and only one memory lightens it. 
Lawrence Bedell was Bishop of Kilmore, and, as 
Fellow of Trinity College had distinguished himself 
by a zeal for the study of the Irish language. At his 
expense, under his supervision, there was carried out 
a rendering of the Bible into Irish. His death delayed 
the publication; but for more than two hundred and 
fifty years it was the sole version of the Scriptures 
accessible to those who knew only Gaelic. Bedell’s 
Palace in Cavan became a shelter for Protestant 
refugees, and when he was ordered to expel them he 
refused. Muskets were set to his breast, but he told 
the men to fire, and they had not the heart to do it. 
In his house, Divine Service was regularly performed, 
and when safe convoy to Dublin was offered, he 


THE GREAT REBELLION 181 


refused to leave his post. Finally, the Catholic 
Bishop of Kilmore insisted on getting possession of 
the Palace, and Bedell and his family were forced to 
leave it for a prison on an island. Then they were 
exchanged for other prisoners, and went to the house 
of a native Irish Protestant clergyman near by, who 
had not been molested, although he was a convert or 
son of a convert. Other fugitives crowded to the 
house; typhus appeared among them, and Bedell, 
ministering to the sick, caught the disease. When 
he died, a salute of honour was fired by the rebels 
over his grave, and it is said that among the crowd 
of Irish mourners were some priests, one of whom 
cried out: ‘‘ Sit anima mea cum Bedello’’ (*‘ May my 
soul be with the soul of Bedell ’’). 

The rebellion spread all over Ireland, except the 
seaport towns of Leinster and Ulster, and those of 
Cork. Into these, Protestants gathered. Limerick and 
Galway ultimately joined the rising, but not for a 
considerable time. Yet nothing decisive happened. 
England could spare no considerable force, but the 
Scots sent over four thousand men under General 
Munro who regained what had been lost in Down and 
Antrim. The Irish, in spite of their numbers, had 
neither arms nor, as yet, any competent leader. But 
one came. 

In the months while the rebellion was being 
planned, two Irish officers serving in the imperial 
armies were in communication with the plotters. 
One was Preston, nephew of Lord Gormanstown, a 
Catholic noble of the Pale; the other was Owen Roe 
O’Neill, a younger kinsman of the Tyrone house. In 
1640, O’Neill had gained glory by his defence of 


182 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Arras in the Netherlands against the French armies 
of Louis XIII. Preston also was an able soldier. 
Neither of the two was able to reach Ireland till July, 
1642—nine months after the outbreak—and the 
rebellion had no real head. 

It had, however, formed a government, with its 
capital at Kilkenny, where sat the Supreme Council of 
what was called the ‘‘ Catholic Confederation.’’ The 
Council had two members from each province, with 
Lord MountGarrett as President: and it appointed a 
committee of lawyers to draw up a Constitution. 
There was to be a Parliament consisting of a House of 
Lords and a House of Commons and of the Crown 
—for all the Confederates professed to act in the 
king’s name. Unfortunately, they decided that the 
Government or Exccutive should be a Council elected 
by the members of each province, and each province 
was to have its own army and its own general—no 
general being subordinate to any other. No country 
can be governed, and no war can be conducted, 
successfully on such a plan. But the worst trouble 
was that the Anglo-Irish and Irish did not get on 
together, and that the southern Irish sided with the 
Anglo-Irish against the Ulstermen, who had begun the 
rising and who became all-important when Owen Roe 
O’Neill got command. 

The war, therefore, was not pushed on either side 
with vigour. Owen Roe had, in the first instance, to 
train his men; and he began by disbanding many, 
keeping only those whom he could arm and pay. The 
Supreme Council was negotiating with the king, while 
in England the king was barely able to keep his 
throne: and Charles actually succeeded in persuading 


THE GREAT REBELLION 183 


the Council to send him both arms and money, while 
they kept Owen Roe short of both. Finally, in 1045, 
while the struggle still dragged on, a Nuncio from the 
Pope, Cardinal Rinuccini, landed to assist the Catholic 
Confederation. He brought arms and money, and he 
was shrewd enough to see that the Confederation 
were aiming to get promises from Charles without 
considering if Charles had power to keep them. The 
essential was to get on with the war. Owen Roe now, 
for the first time, had money and munitions, and was 
able to increase his force. But Munro still com- 
manded more men and better equipped, and in June, 
1646, he marched from Belfast against O’ Neill, whose 
headquarters were in Cavan. Owen Roe’s only 
chance was to attack before Munro’s various contin- 
gents could join together, and he succeeded in engag- 
ing battle at Benburb, on the Blackwater near 
Armagh, while Munro had only his main body. Yet 
the Scots were still about six thousand against five 
thousand, and much better equipped. But O’Neill 
contrived to bring them to action after a long day’s 
march had tired them, and he manceuvred so skilfully 
that he jammed them in the angle between the Black- 
water and the little river Oona which joins it. . Then 
he gave the word to charge. Munro was routed com- 
pletely, and O’Neill could equip new regiments with 
the captured arms. It was the greatest victory since 
the Yellow Ford, but it was not followed up. A few 
days after, the Anglo-Irish, who had control at Kil- 
kenny, concluded a peace with Charles. This did not 
give the Irish any protection against the armies of 
those who were beating Charles in England. 
Rinuccini denounced the peace: Owen Roe sup- 


184 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


ported him, and the war continued. Ormond nearly 
fell into Owen Roe’s hands, but was saved by one of 
the Anglo-Irish Confederates: and, shortly after, 
when O’Neill and Preston marched on Dublin, 
Ormond, as Charles’s Lord Lieutenant, handed over 
the city to the Parliament. A very able soldier, 
Michael Jones, son of an Irish bishop, took command, 
and, when Owen Roe had moved again north, 
defeated Preston. O’Neill recovered the lost ground, 
but he could not unite Ireland. The Confederation 
was divided between those who wanted to push on war 
and those who believed in negotiating, until presently 
the Anglo-Irish were actually at war with the victor 
of Benburb. They got their peace signed at last—by 
Ormond, on behalf of Charles—and a fortnight after 
it was signed, Charles was beheaded. The war was 
continued by England under the Parliament. Owen 
Roe, denounced as a traitor by the Confederation, 
kept his army together, but was struck down by 
illness. He had only time to stipulate with Ormond 
that Ulster should be included in whatever benefit 
came from the peace. He died in November, 16409, 
just after Cromwell had landed in Dublin. Of all the 
leading persons who took part in this Irish war, Owen 
Roe’s military achievement was much the most notable, 
and he is the only one against whose personal honour 
and valour and repute for humanity no word can 
be said. 

Generally, from the time of Elizabeth onwards, the 
English justified harsh and brutal dealings in Ireland 
on the ground that the Irish were an inferior race. 
Answer is given by the case of Owen Roe, and very 
many other Irish nobles, who in the seventeenth and 


THE GREAT REBELLION 185 


eighteenth centuries distinguished themselves in 
Europe. Owen Roe, however, was the only one who had 
the opportunity to show in Ireland what a Gaelic Irish 
nobleman could be. At home the Irish nobles, if they 
remained constant to their religion could not hope for 
honourable employment. At that period, throughout 
northern Europe, the distinctions of class were strict, 
and commerce was barred for men who desired to 
maintain their nobility. Moreover, Irish nobles of the 
old religion, if they remained in Ireland, could not get 
the education fitted to their position. Owen Roe, 
with his continental training and his experience of a 
cultivated society in which he took his rightful place, 
was a very different man from the Irish of his class 
who had remained at home. The leading men who 
started the rebellion were for the most part selfish 
and incapable, swayed by petty motives. They had 
no discipline. The reason was not their race, but 
their lack of proper training. Irishmen of pure Gaelic 
race, when they got fair opportunity, showed them- 
selves throughout Europe as good men as could be 
found—especially as leaders in honourable war. 

Two other things should be remembered about this 
great man, Owen Roe. The first is that he was 
accused of trying to make himself King of Ireland; 
and the idea was put forward in a book. O’Neill’s 
own comment, made to his nephew who was one of 
Charles’s courtiers, was this: ‘‘ Such notions are so 
light and foolish as no man who knows the world 
would believe me to be such a fool.’’ He served the 
King of England as loyally as he served the King of 
Spain: and throughout the Stuart period the Irish 
Catholics, Gaelic and Anglo-Irish alike, fully accepted 


186 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the Stuarts as Kings of Ireland. Catholic Ireland 
was monarchist, when great part of Protestant 
England was republican. 

The second point is that Owen was said to hate the 
Anglo-Irish of the Pale. ‘‘ Nephew,’’ he said, ‘‘I- 
hold him to be no better than a devil who will make 
these distinctions, but call all Irish alike.’’ His 
nephew, it should be added, was a Protestant. 


CHAPTER XIX, 
The Cromwellian Confiscations. 


AFTER the peace was concluded, in 1649, between 
the Confederation and Ormond, Ormond became 
commander of the joint forces which now ranked as 
royalist, O’Neill and his army being still apart in the 
north. In August, 1649, Michael Jones defeated 
Ormond completely at the battle of Rathmines, just 
outside Dublin. A fortnight later, Cromwell landed. 
The war had lasted nearly nine years, and England 
was now solidly united in one hand, while the Irish 
forces were broken by dissensions. Their principal 
army had just been defeated before Cromwell came. 
He first moved on Drogheda, which was held for 
the Royalists by an English Catholic and a garrison 
largely English. The governor refusing to surrender, 
the place was stormed, and then followed a butchery 
of over three thousand persons lasting three days. 
Dundalk fell without resistance, but in Wexford the 
garrison refused to surrender and again massacre 
followed. No such measures had been taken in the 
English Civil War. It is often said that these bar- 
barities were justified because they made a quick end 
of the war. That is entirely untrue. The war lasted 
for another three years: and immediately after the fall 
of Wexford, Cromwell was faced by the towns of 
Waterford and Clonmel, held by bodies of Owen Roe’s 
Ulster troops under two of his officers, O’Farrell and 


Hugh Dubh O’Neill. O’Farrell drove him back from 


187 


188 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


before Waterford; but elsewhere in Ireland there was 
neither the fidelity nor the courage of the soldiers 
trained by Owen Roe. The Protestants of Cork, 
who had expelled the Catholics, now went over; 
Kilkenny was taken without serious resistance; but 
Waterford and Clonmel stood out. Clonmel was 
attacked first, and inflicted terrible loss. A thousand 
of Cromwell’s men were slain in one assault, through 
Black Hugh’s skillin war. But powder gave out, and 
Hugh had no choice but to slip out secretly at night, 
advising the Mayor to go in the morning and offer 
surrender on fair terms. Cromwell accepted the offer 
before he knew that he had been outwitted and the 
fighting men were gone. Then Cromwell left Ireland, 
and Ireton took command. Preston, who was now 
commanding in Waterford, got fair terms for 
surrender; but Limerick, where Hugh O’Neill had 
fallen back, stood out. Ireton besieged it for three 
months in 1651. There was plague inside the walls, 
but O’Neill held out till the place was lost by 
treachery of a subordinate. Ireton proposed to 
execute O’Neill, and courtmartial was twice held, and 
twice over Ireton’s own officers prevailed with him to 
save the life of this gallant opponent. 

In the west, war still flickered on, but the Irish 
were so disorganised that no commander could speak 
for all. There were separate surrenders, each 
commander claiming the right to take his men 
abroad, where Spain and France were bidding against 
each other for soldiers. Thirty four thousand 
soldiers went in all, leaving the country absolutely 
defenceless. Then Puritan England began to deal 
with Ireland. 


THE CROMWELLIAN CONFISCATIONS 189 


The rebellion of 1641 had taken place nine months 
before the outbreak of Civil War in England, and both 
the king and Parliament had raised a large loan by 
promising to grant in repayment two and a half 
million acres of cultivable Irish land. (The total 
acreage of Ireland is twenty million, of which three- 
quarters may be called cultivable). In addition to 
that, soldiers who had served the Parliament both in 
England and Ireland had arrears of pay owing. This 
was also to be met by confiscations in Ireland. In 
short, the plan was to pay for the war in both coun- 
tries at the expense of the conquered in Ireland. In 
England, the victors did not confiscate; but by this 
time the idea was deeply implanted in the English 
mind that the Irish could and should be replaced by 
English. Few went so far as to take the view which 
Spenser had advocated, that they should all be killed 
off. But the attitude towards them was that of white 
men towards the American Indians. 

The war had ended without terms of peace being 
made, and Parliament dealt with the matter by an 
Act of Settlement which laid down that every person 
in Ireland must lose his property, wholly or in part, 
unless he could prove that he had been constantly 
faithful to the cause of the English Parliament. 

There were some two hundred executions: but the 
greater part of the thousands condemned to death had 
fled to the continent. Vengeance took the form of 
deprival of land. The project was to clear all Catholic 
landowners out of the three other provinces, and 
herd them in Connacht. 

It is uncertain whether the English intended 
literally to drive all Catholics into Connacht. Some 


IQO HISTORY OF IRELAND 


regions were wholly cleared; but for the most part the 
workers who owned no land were left to work for 
the new possessors. All this transference of land 
could not be quickly carried out, and the attempt to 
move the population to Connacht made immense con- 
fusion. Cromwell’s Government assisted the disper- 
sion by transporting several thousands of the Irish to 
work as forced labour on the tobacco and sugar 
plantations in the West Indies. Then, while the 
whole was in progress, England restored Charles If 
to the throne. Ireland expected that Charles would 
make restoration to those who had stood by the king. 
But the Catholic Irish were disarmed and dispos- 
sessed: the new Protestant owners were armed 
and in possession. 

In 1641 Catholics owned about 11 million, Pro- 
testants about 9 million, acres of Irish soil. After the 
Act of Settlement, Catholics were left with from one 
to two millions, nearly all in Connacht. The Crom- 
wellian court divided the accused into four classes. 
The first were condemned to lose both life and lands, 
and this included about 8,000 Catholic landowners. 
Most escaped death by remaining in exile. The 
second and third classes consisted of those re- 
garded as less guilty Catholics, who were compensated 
for their lands outside Connacht by grants of land in 
Connacht to the extent of one-third or two-thirds (in 
Class III.) of their former estates at the expense of 
Catholics in Connacht. The fourth class were Pro- 
testants who had failed to prove ‘‘ good affection ’’ to 
the Commonwealth, and they were not moved to 
Connacht, and forfeited only one-fifth. 

At the Restoration Charles restored the estates of 


THE CROMWELLIAN CONFISCATIONS | IQ! 


leading Protestants, who had been in Class I: he 
restored also certain leading Catholics, notably Sir 
Daniel O’Brien, who was made Lord Clare. But, in 
the main, the Act of Settlement passed under Charles 
II confirmed the confiscation carried out by Cromwell. 

The spokesman of the Catholics did not claim a re- 
versal of the Ulster plantation—which was nearly fifty 
years old. But they claimed to be reinstated as they 
were twenty years before. This was not done. Certain 
Catholics were restored, but mainly the great men. 
The whole class of small owners, peasant proprietors, 
disappeared. A specially unjust and mischievous 
provision was that no Catholic could be restored to his 
property in a town that had a Corporation. In 
general, the towns had stood consistently by the 
English interest, until England became divided, and 
then they sided with the king. Galway, before Crom- 
well’s time, was a place of very great importance, but 
the whole body of Catholic merchants was driven out 
from it. In Waterford, much the same happened; and 
these men settled abroad. After the Restoration, if 
they returned to Ireland they returned as landlords of 
estates in the country. The valuable middle class in 
Ireland was in this way destroyed, except in the 
northern Protestant towns. 

Henceforward, there were in Ireland three or four 
racial groups: the Gaels, or native Irish; the Anglo- 
Irish or Old English, of whom many were Catholic; 
and the New English. In the last group, however, a 
distinction must be made between the Ulster settlers, 
who were largely Scots, and who had taken strong 
root in the country, and the newly come Crom- 
wellians. By far the larger part of the land 


192 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


owners were Cromwellians. They were, from the 
first, divided from the Irish not only by race, like the 
Old English (though the Old English had often inter- 
married with the Irish) but also by religion. Thus, 
the separation of peoples in the one country was 
sharper than it had ever been. And, unlike the Ulster 
planters, the Cromwellian settlers did not come in to 
work the land. The wealthier men were landlords, 
leasing out the use of their lands to people of different 
race and religion. The less prosperous, as a rule, 
sold their holdings, which increased another man’s 
share; or, if they remained in the country as poor 
men, they generally married Irish women and their 
families became Catholic. 

It was not in human nature that Irish Catholics, of 
whichever race, should be contented under such a 
settlement, and when a Catholic king, James II, came 
to the throne, they pressed him to reverse it. Not 
unnaturally he attempted to do so, sending over as 
viceroy an Anglo-Irish Catholic, Talbot, to whom was 
given the earldom of Tyrconnell. Under Talbot, 
commands in the army were thrown open to Catholics. 
Also, the existing corporations were cancelled, and 
new ones established with Catholics in the majority. 
This was not unjust, where it was simply a reversal of 
unjust action in Cromwell’s time; but it was carried 
out in Protestant towns, notably in Derry, and was 
grossly unjust there. 

When William of Orange landed in England, and 
James fled, Tyrconnell, as Viceroy, refused to 
acknowledge the new sovereign; and, in March 1689, 
James II returned from France to that part of his 
kingdom which had stood by him. An Irish Parlia- 


THE CROMWELLIAN CONFISCATIONS 193 


ment was summoned, consisting almost entirely of 
Catholics. Yet Protestants were in both its Houses. 
Naturally, when the Catholics found themselves in 
power, they repealed the Act of Settlement that had 
been passed twenty-seven years earlier. They did 
not interfere with any property held by Protestants 
before 1641, but they took from Protestants all that 
was given them by the Cromwellian confiscations. 
This was, no doubt, a new confiscation. But there 
is considerable difference between the two cases. In 
Cromwell’s time, Parliament took from natives of the 
country land which had been in the possession of their 
families for many generations and often for many 
centuries. In James’s day, Parliament proposed to 
take away only land that had been granted to 
foreigners within the memory even of young people. 
The main difference, however, is that the second 
confiscation was not carried out. No Act of James’s 
Irish Parliament came into operation, because he was 
defeated. But it should be noted that this Parlia- 
ment of Catholic Ireland decided that there should be 
freedom for all religious denominations, and that no 
man should be barred from any office because of his 
belief. The Parliament of the party which won was, 
according to modern ideas, much less enlightened. 


CHAPTER XX. 
The Wars under James II and William. 


THE war which ended in the complete defeat of James 
and his adherents is unlike that of 1641—1653. It 
was conducted on civilised principles, and on both 
sides examples of superb gallantry and ability were 
shown. But Ireland was the battleground for two 
rivals who claimed the throne of Ireland, and one, a 
Dutchman having all Protestant Ireland for him, had 
possession of all England’s resources; the other, an 
Englishman, supported by Catholic Ireland, must 
depend for munitions of war on what France would 
send him. Also, the Dutchman was by far the better 
man. 

When James reached Cork, three provinces were 
held solid by Tyrconnell. But Ulster was defiant. At 
the end of 1688, rumours of a massacre had spread, 
and the Protestants flocked into cities of refuge. At 
Enniskillen, Gustavus Hamilton, an able soldier, took 
command. In Derry, Tyrconnell withdrew a Pro- 
testant regiment and ordered Lord Antrim with a 
Catholic regiment to replace it. These soldiers came 
up on the east side of the Foyle and were being ferried 
across to the hillock on which Derry stands, separated 
by a bog from the Donegal shore, when suddenly a 
group of apprentice boys seized the keys of the town, 
and, rushing down, shut the Ferry Quay Gate in the 
face of the first company, who were then within a 


stone’s throw of it. 
194 


WARS UNDER JAMES II AND WILLIAM 195 


This was on 18th December, and Derry commemo- 
rates the day, rightly, for it was a decisive event. 
The Enniskilleners, on their part, sallied out and 
drove off the troops whom Tyrconnell sent to occupy 
the town. Sligo was also held for King William, as 
well as outposts at Manorhamilton and Droma- 
hair. Belfast was at this time, it must be remem- 
bered, little more than a village, and did not matter 
in the struggle. But Derry had its walls, and 
Enniskillen had in it the best fighting men in Ireland 
of that day. 

James moved north with his army to reduce the 
resistance of north-east Ulster. The commander of 
Derry was Colonel Lundy, an officer sent there by 
Tyrconnell. Forces under him were drawn up to 
oppose James’s crossing from Strabane to Lifford, but 
fell back with little resistance, and when Derry was 
invested, negotiations for surrender began. But 
Colonel Murray, who had been out on a raiding party 
came back in time to learn what was happening, burst 
into the Council Room and forced Lundy to withdraw. 
Lundy fled secretly that night. Colonel Baker was 
put in charge of the defences, with Mitchelburne as 
his second, Murray claiming only to lead in fighting 
outside the walls. And, in a sharp action towards 
Pennyburn, near where the City Hall stands to-day. 
he is said to have killed the French General Maumont 
with his own hand. At all events, Maumont was 
killed, and Van Rosen, who succeeded him in the 
command was a brutal soldier of fortune who tried to 
force surrender by driving up to the walls all the stray 
Protestants gathered in from the country and 
threatening to let them starve. But Hamilton, 


196 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


second in command (for the Hamiltons were on both 
sides in this war) stopped this atrocity, and the siege 
proceeded mainly by blockade. It lasted from April 
till the end of July, and the besieged were almost 
starved. They would have been reduced, but that 
some one thought of using the starch in the stores 
as a substitute for flour. Meantime, they could see 
from the cathedral tower a British fleet under Kirke in 
Lough Foyle. But passage was barred by a boom 
across the river at its narrows near Culmore, and by 
batteries protecting the boom; and Kirke would not 
risk approach until a Derry sea captain named Boyd, 
with a ship laden with food offered to attempt break- 
ing through. Kirke agreed. The ‘‘Mountjoy,’’ with 
a fair wind, struck the boom of tree trunks chained 
together; but the recoil put her on a mudbank and 
drew terrible fire. But her companion, the ‘‘Phcenix,’’ 
of Coleraine, got through; and, as the tide rose, the 
‘‘Mountjoy’’ floated clear and sailed up to the port. 
Her heroic captain was dead on board of her, shot 
down as he stood at the helm. Three days later, on 
31st July, the besiegers withdrew. 

Meantime, the Enniskillen men had been driving off 
all assailants, and raiding the country as far as 
Belleek, and even to Kells, in Meath. Yet they had 
two able commanders against them—one, the Duke of 
Berwick, natural son of James; the other, Patrick 
Sarsheld, of Anglo-Irish family, holding property near 
Lucan. Sarsfield had been in the Life Guards under 
Charles II, and had fought for James in England, and 
was immensely popular with the Irish; but James 
never showed the same confidence in him as in his 
French officers. He was operating about Sligo, while 


WARS UNDER JAMES IT AND WILLIAM 197 


the main force of James under Colonel MacCarthy 
was directed against the Enniskilleners. Once more 
the Protestants came out into the open, and at 
Newtownbutler, near the east end of Lough Erne, in 
swampy ground, they routed the Jacobites on the 
very day that the siege of Derry was raised. The 
Protestant Ulstermen had beaten their opponents 
even before decisive reinforcements came. In the 
middle of August, ten thousand men under Schom- 
berg, one of William’s Dutch generals, landed in 
County Down, occupied Belfast, and reduced Carrick- 
fergus by siege. Berwick fell back from Newry, and 
Schomberg, passing through the ‘‘Gap of the North,”’ 
fixed his camp at Dundalk, till disease forced him to 
move back to County Down. 

From the autumn of 1689 to June 1690, nothing 
important happened. French reinforcements landed 
in Cork, but on 14th June, William of Orange in 
person with strong forces landed at Carrickfergus and 
joined Schomberg. Lauzun, the French commander- 
in-chief, and James, were then in the Gap of the 
North, but with extraordinary bad judgment they 
withdrew to the Boyne. 

James had some twenty-three thousand men, 
William thirty-six thousand, and immensely more 
cannon. Before the battle began on Ist July, William 
had thrown nearly ten thousand men across the ford 
at Slane, a few miles on James’s left, threatening the 
flank and the line of retreat. This means that the 
fight could have only one result. William’s main 
body crossed the ford at Oldbridge, a mile above 
Drogheda, where the monument marks the place. 
There was a regiment of French Huguenots in his 


198 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


army; there were five thousand Danish veterans; and 
there were the Inniskilling Foot, who had been formed 
into a regular regiment of the British army. William, 
who was grazed by a cannon shot before the advance 
began, none the less led across the ford, and was hit 
by a bullet in the foot while crossing: Schomberg died 
at the head of his men. The Protestants were led by 
brave soldiers. On the other side, James headed the 


> 
bp, Army of WILLIAM 
<m 
Na 


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eov"® Lie] 


Pal 


ARMY oF 
ny 
Epona. 
Zn y 


Spot 


A. ovperipce. 
B. Where WILLIAM was IN DANGER. 
‘ tHe BATTLE of tne BOYNE 
A soe 2 ist JULY 1690 





movement to Dublin. On reaching it, he told Lady 
Tyrconnell that the Irish had run basely. ‘‘I see,”’ 
said the lady, ‘‘ that your majesty has won the race.”’ 
Sarsfield, with his division, was scarcely in the fight; 
he commanded the king’s bodyguard, and the king, 
unlike William, did not risk his person. 

The Irish Foot, untrained and ill-armed, scattered; 
but their cavalry fought furiously; Schomberg lost his 
life trying to reinforce the Huguenots when they had 
been broken. When William had crossed the ford, he 
put himself at the head of the Inniskilling Dragoons: 


WARS UNDER JAMES II AND WILLIAM 199 


that famous regiment also dates from this year. By 
July 6th, William was in Dublin and James was out of 
Ireland. After this the war was decided, but the real 
fighting had only begun. 

Meanwhile, all the Irish forces had rallied on 
Limerick. Before William’s landing, Sarsfield had 
gained an important success by destroying a force 
detached against Connacht; then he had taken Sligo, 
and so held all on the west bank of the Shannon. By 
his influence, Lauzun’s proposal to abandon Limerick 
and give up the fight was defeated. Sarsfield was 
able, by a rapid movement, to save Athlone—already 
besieged. But Lauzun with the main Jacobite force 
withdrew to Galway, and William pressed on against 
Limerick city, not waiting for his artillery. Sarsfield 
knew this, slipped out of Limerick by night on the 
Clare bank with five hundred horse, rode to Killaloe, 
crossed a ford where the Shannon leaves Lough Derg, 
and from Keeper mountain made a descent on the 
battery train where it rested for its last camp at 
Ballyneety. The escort was scattered, the guns 
blown up, and the spirit of resistance greatly 
heartened. But other heavy guns were brought 
round by sea, and William, attacking from the County 
Limerick bank, was able—as the besiegers of Derry 
had not been—to breach the wall. A storming party 
of five hundred men with ten thousand men in reserve 
was launched, the breach was carried, but the 
defenders drove out the attackers. Three times this 
key to the town was lost, and three times recovered 
in the day. The loss to the attackers was so terrible 
that William had to retreat at the end of August, 
1090. 


200 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


There was time now to reinforce Ireland’s resist- 
ance; but nothing effective was done on either side 
till June, 1691. Another Frenchman, St. Ruth, now 
commanded the Jacobites, and another Dutchman, 
Ginkel, the Williamites. And the contest began at 
Athlone, the main crossing of the Shannon. The 
town on the Westmeath bank was easily captured, 
but the bridge had been broken: attackers contrived 
to throw planks across the broken arches, but eleven 
men went out with hatchets to cut the planks under 
the fire of Ginkel’s whole force and were killed to a 
man. Eleven more came out, and nine of these also 
perished, but the planks were cut. Yet, after that, 
by the carelessness of the French commander, Ginkel 
was able to ford the river by surprise, meeting 
nothing to stop him but two untrained battalions, hav- 
ing only two cartridges a man.  Sarsfield was for 
fighting the enemy after he had crossed by the 
traditional Irish war of dodging movements in a diff- 
cult country: but St. Ruth determined on a pitched 
battle. At Aughrim, eighteen miles west of Ballina- 
sloe, he drew up his army on a semi-circular ridge of 
eskers, facing a bog, with the village of Aughrim on 
the left of his line. The result was doubtful, when 
he called half his reserve to charge, leading them him- 
self, and a cannon ball took off his head. Sarsfield, 
in charge of the remainder, was never called into 
action, and could only extricate the remnants of the 
army which fell back on Limerick. Ginkel advanced 
on Galway, whose houses, strongly built of black 
limestone, were each a fortress. He secured its 
surrender by promising the citizens their property 
secure, and the free exercise of their religion. Sligo 


WARS UNDER JAMES II AND WILLIAM 20! 


was also forced to capitulate, though bravely defended 
by Sir Teague O’Regan, and meanwhile Ginkel and his 
army had laid siege to Limerick. Both sides knew 
that a French expedition was on the way; but Ginkel 
was now master of both banks, and captured 
Thomond Bridge which connected the island with the 
Clare bank; and the wall was breached. It was a 
race against time on both sides. Sarsfield decided 
to negotiate for terms. The Treaty of Limerick was 
actually signed on Thomond Bridge in August, 1691. 
It guaranteed to the Irish Catholics the same position 
that they held in the reign of Charles II. At that 
time Catholic worship was open and undisturbed: 
Catholics were on the judicial bench and at the bar; 
they held commissions in the army, they voted at 
elections, they could be elected to Parliament. They 
owned also at least an eighth of the soil of Ireland, 
and they could rent or lease land on the same terms as 
other citizens. Further, by the Treaty, the Govern- 
ment pledged itself to pass new laws which should 
prevent Catholics from being disturbed on account of 
their religion. 

The Treaty was broken. Only one promise in it 
was made good—that Sarsfield himself and such of 
his men and officers as chose to follow him should go 
abroad to the French service. Eleven thousand went, 
and there was no power left in Ireland to resist a 
breach of faith. 

An Irish Parliament, summoned by William in 1692, 
refused to ratify the Treaty. The English Parliament 
then declared that Catholics were incapable of sitting 
in Parliament. Then, in 1695, another Irish Parlia- 
ment, representing only the Protestant Irish, began to 


202 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


frame what is called the Penal Code—a whole series 
of laws imposing penalties on Catholics because they 
were Catholics—every one of which violated the 
Treaty. 

There were also new confiscations of land and 
property. A certain number of Catholics were left 
in the possession of estates. But whereas in 1641 
Catholics had owned more than half of the entire soil 
of Ireland, from 1695 onwards they probably did not 
own above one-twentieth of the whole: and the aim of 
legislation for nearly a hundred years was to prevent 
Irish Catholics from acquiring any more land in their 
own country. 

One good thing, however, happened in these years 
of terrible misery. The distinction between Irish and 
Anglo-Irish Catholics had disappeared. No one 
thought of Patrick Sarsfield as any less Irish than 
Owen Roe O’ Neill. 


CHAPTER XXI. 
The Period of the Penal Laws. 


IRELAND, which the English up to Elizabeth’s day had 
always described as a land of war, had two periods 
of peace in the seventeenth century—from 1603 to 
1641, and again from 1660 to 1689. In both, there 
Was a great advance in prosperity. From 1693 on, 
for more than a hundred years, there was unbroken 
peace; but during most of that period Ireland was in 
misery. The cause lay in a terribly bad system of 
legislation which no one now attempts to defend, 
passed by the Parliament of England and the Parlia- 
ment of Ireland. It was of two kinds: laws made by 
the Irish Parliament against the Catholic Irish, and 
laws made by the English Parliament against the 
trade of Ireland. 

Neither of these sets of laws—the penal laws 
against the Catholics or the commercial restrictions 
on Irish trade—seemed to Europe in that age so 
wrong as they do to us. The most civilised Catholic 
countries imposed a severe penal code on their 
Protestant subjects—and one result was a very great 
emigration of good citizens, by which other countries 
profited, Ireland among them. French Huguenots 
came to Ireland as settlers under William III, German 
Palatines under Queen Anne. The best governed 
States also regarded colonies as existing for the 
benefit of the mother country, and forced their colonies 

203 


204 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


to direct or limit their trade so as to convenience that 
country. 

But the case of Ireland was specially bad. First, 
everywhere else the religion against which penalties 
were directed was that of the minority: in Ireland it 
was the religion of the mass of the people. Secondly, 
Ireland was not like the colonies across the ocean. 
It produced, except coal, almost the same things as 
England did. It was not possible to combine the 
English and the Irish interest, as it was to combine 
for instance, that of England and of the West Indies. 

At that time, the idea of national rights had not 
developed. European morality did not consider it 
wrong for one nation to hold another in subjection 
by force, or to impose hardship on a conquered 
people. Yet, men who in their youth saw and rejoiced 
in the first conquest of Ireland by William of Orange 
were found later claiming for Ireland the rights of a 
nation. 

But these rights were claimed in English for an 
English-speaking nation within what was already, 
though it was not so called, the British empire. 
Swift, the greatest writer among those who claimed 
these rights, had no sympathy with those obscure 
successors of the old order of poets who, in that 
century, kept alive the idea of the rights and hopes 
of Gaelic Ireland. Irish history has to show how far 
these two elements in what we now call the nation 
became blended into one, and how far they remained 
apart. 

Ever since the Norman Conquest, there had been 
two orders of people in Ireland, having different rights 
before the law of the sovereign ruler. Up to the 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 205 


fifteenth century, under the ascendency of the ‘‘ Old 
English,’’ a common religion did much to unite them, 
in spite of the influence of constant incomers from 
England who kept them apart. From the Refor- 
mation on, when English monarchs began to have a 
religion which was not that of their Irish subjects, the 
division grew sharper: yet, even under the first Stuart 
kings, most of the Anglo-Irish nobles and gentry and 
merchants were Catholics like the rest of the people. 
In addition to this, they had for the most part been 
long settled in the country: its ways were not strange 
to them. But, after the Cromwellian conquest, the 
great bulk of the land passed into the hands of men 
who were strangers to Ireland, and who were violently 
opposed to the Catholic religion. In the brief period 
when the Catholic James II ruled, these men saw an 
attempt made to take back the lands and restore them 
to the Catholics: and after the defeat of James they 
naturally enough considered that they could only hold 
their property securely by keeping Catholics under. 
Thus, they regarded the native Irish as their natural 
enemies. The idea definitely took shape _ that 
Protestants were a garrison holding Ireland for 
England in the midst of a conquered race who out- 
numbered the garrison. 

Catholics who read this period of history must 
remember that Protestants were then honestly con- 
vinced that the best thing which could happen to a 
Catholic was to become a Protestant: and many of 
them felt justified in putting pressure amounting to 
persecution to help conversion. The men who made the 
penal laws did not legislate against the Irish because 
they were Irish: the Protestant Gael had had the same 


206 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


rights as any other Protestant. But the desire to 
make converts was not the chief motive of those who 
framed the penal code. They regarded Catholicism 
as a heresy: but also as a dangerous conspiracy 
threatening their own possessions. In this temper, 
mixing bribes with penalties, they passed a whole 
series of abominable laws. 

Under Elizabeth, Catholic worship had been for- 
bidden, and attendance at Anglican services had been 
ordered under a penalty. But it was never possible 
to enforce this law, though in some places Mass was 
only said in secret. In the eighteenth century, priests 
were first ordered to register their names and then 
were asked to take an oath pledging perpetual loyalty 
to the Protestant succession; in short, to swear that 
no Catholic could ever rightfully become King of 
Ireland. This oath was refused, and all priests who 
officiated without taking it were liable to banishment. 
A Catholic bishop was liable to be hanged: and 
rewards were offered for the detection of such digni- 
taries as unlicensed. A Catholic layman might be 
compelled under pain of a year’s imprisonment to say 
where he had last heard Mass, and what priest cele- 
brated it. Any priest who turned Protestant was 
offered thirty pounds a year, and this money was to 
be raised off his own district. Yet priests multiplied 
in spite of the ‘‘ priest hunters,’’ and the result of the 
devotion shown by these men at all risks was to 
strengthen the hold of Catholicism on Ireland. A 
religion which can survive persecution gains enor- 
mously: in this respect, the Penal Laws may be said 
to have done good to Irish Catholicism. But they 
brought law itself into abhorrence. The law was set in 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 207 


opposition to every Catholic conscience. Education 
was prohibited—unless Catholics would allow their 
children to be brought up as Protestants. Public 
schools were provided, but the teaching in them must 
be Protestant. There was a reward of ten pounds 
for the discovery of a Catholic schoolmaster. Yet, 
in this respect, the law was defied. Hedge schools 
sprang up, which grew to be “‘ classical academies,’’ 
kept by unlicensed teachers whom the farmers com- 
bined to pay. This was specially so in Munster, then 
the most prosperous province: and ‘‘ poor scholars ”’ 
came from long distances to well-known schools, 
living in some farmer’s house, partly by charity, 
partly earning their keep by service. The law was 
broken that education might be given, and Catholic 
Ireland, with its religion and its teaching carried on 
at the risk of penalties, illegally, was more than ever 
turned into a vast secret society. It had to fear the 
informer, and it began to inflict its own penalties. 
When laws are made which conflict with the con- 
science of those who obey them, there is terrible 
demoralisation. If aman were known to be about to 
denounce a priest, he was inevitably threatened, 
beaten, or even killed: and then the whole community 
was certain to shelter the law-breakers. The Penal 
Laws did not weaken the Catholic religion, but they 
destroyed respect for law in Ireland. 

Also, and this was no doubt intended, they stripped 
Gaelic Ireland of its natural leaders. The peasant 
might content himself with the hedge school for his 
children if he had his farm at a fair rent, but the sons 
of those who would naturally go into the professions 
had no scope in Ireland. They distinguished them- 


208 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


selves in the service of Spain, of Austria, but most of 
all in that of France. In the middle of the eighteenth 
century, Wall, an Anglo-Irish Catholic, was Prime 
Minister of Spain: a Macnamara commanded the 
French fleet: in Austria, Taaffes and O’Donnells 
founded great families. Lally of Tullinadaly in Gal- 
way sat in James II’s Parliament; his descendant, 
Lally Tollendal, nearly won India from the English. 
But the chief employ was in the Irish Brigade of 
France, whose hereditary chiefs were a younger 
branch of the O’Briens, descended from Sir Daniel, 
made Viscount Clare by Charles II. When the great 
battle of Fontenoy hung undecided, a charge of the 
Irish Brigade under Lord Clare finally sent George II’s 
army into rout. 

These are only a few illustrations. Even in Russia 
Catholic Irishmen, of Gaelic stock, Norman, or Anglo- 
Irish, rose to the highest positions, handicapped as 
they were by their alien blood. Lecky has said that 
to write the history of Catholic Ireland in the eight- 
eenth century you must search the annals of Europe. 
This book is a history of the Irish nation in its home- 
land, and all that can be said here is that these exiles 
kept Europe aware that there was an Irish nation, 
and by their connection with their homes kept Ireland 
to some degree in touch with the general life of 
Europe. Indeed, from the breakdown of the Gaelic 
order under the Stuarts, Ireland became known to 
Europe chiefly as a recruiting ground for men, and 
for leaders of men. 

But, in the meantime, Catholic Ireland was with- 
out leaders, sunk into a people of peasants, from 
whose ranks no man could rise—unless he turned 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 209 


Protestant. Of the richer Catholics very many con- 
formed, some of their own choice, some by the 
operation of a law which decreed that if a man died 
leaving children they must be brought up under a 
Protestant guardian. In this way the Kavanaghs of 
Borris, representatives of the MacMurrough line, 
ceased to be Catholic. The priests, educated up to a 
point in the hedge schools, went to France and Spain 
for training, and came back to work for their people. 

Thus Ireland as a whole came to be divided between 
Catholic and Protestant in this way: the Protestants 
owned the land, the Catholics worked it and paid them 
rent. There were, of course, a few Catholic land- 
lords (especially in the west) and there were many 
Protestant farmers: but in the main, Protestantism 
was the religion of an English-speaking gentry, 
Catholicism of an Irish-speaking peasantry. One 
effect of the war on education and of the general 
separateness was to spread Gaelic. It is probable 
that a larger proportion of the people spoke English 
in 1720 than a hundred years later. 

If a Catholic acquired money, few careers were 
open to him. He might be and often was a middle- 
man, taking a large farm and letting it out at a profit 
rent; he might be a rent collector. He might be a 
shopkeeper, and the excessive tendency of Catholic 
Ireland to this way of life probably dates from the 
Penal Laws. He might also be a manufacturer—but 
here progress was difficult, owing to different 
obstacles. 

Up to the time of Cromwell, Ireland had been 
governed by the English kings. Thenceforward it 
came under the English Parliament, in which the 


(D 574) H 


210 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


interests of English landlords and English traders 
were strongly represented. England claimed under 
Poynings’ Law the right to make laws governing 
Ireland and the Irish Parliament: and it made laws 
directly against Irish interests. In the reign of 
Charles II, it forbade Ireland to export goods to 
British possessions or import goods from them, unless 
the goods were sent from an English port—which, of 
course, increased the cost of sending and was ruinous 
to Irish shipping. Then it enacted that no Irish live 
stock must be shipped to England, as it interfered 
with the English farmers’ profits. Ireland, however, 
got the best of this, for a great trade in the export of 
salt meat grew up, especially in the south; and 
instead of exporting sheep, the country farmed for 
wool, and manufactured woollens, which competed 
with the English cloth, especially as wages were lower 
in Ireland. Under William III, this trade was abso- 
lutely stopped. Ireland was forbidden to export 
woollen goods to any place but England, and there 
a very high duty was put on them. Another industry, 
though much less important, was glass manufacture; 
and Ireland was forbidden to export glass at all, or to 
import it except from England. 

The result was ruin for thousands of families—most 
of them Protestant. In the matter of commerce, all 
Irish residents were treated by England as equal; 
and all trades in which they could compete with 
England were ruined. Ireland was thrown back on 
the land as its sole industry, and that also was 
crippled by a cruel measure of the Irish Parliament. 
All farmers then paid tithes, a tenth of the land’s 
produce, to the Established Church. But the Irish 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 211 


Parliament decreed that land used for sheep rearing 
or dry cattle should be free from tithes. Land so 
used gives hardly any employment, and only the richer 
people can afford to own what we now call ‘‘ranches.’’ 
The effect was to throw the full charge of tithes on 
the small farmers, and to exempt the big farmer. 

Thus, by bad laws of its own and of the English 
Parliament, Ireland’s agriculture was oppressed, and 
its industry in manufacture was crushed. These laws 
made all Ireland unfriendly to the law. The country 
was full of wool for which it could get no market, 
and smuggling began on a great scale. Irish wool 
was much needed in France and the Low Countries, 
and ships ran in with wine and tobacco that paid no 
duty, and ran out with wool—very often also with 
recruits for the Irish Brigade. Everybody, Protestant 
or Catholic, resented the restrictions on trade, and at 
least winked at smuggling. The law was everywhere 
brought into disrespect: bad laws made Irishmen law- 
less. The new owners of Ireland soon began to 
extend their defiance of the law, and used their 
tenants as a force to drive off bailiffs and process- 
servers who came down to collect debts. When the 
law suited their own interests, to protect their game 
or get in their rents, the local gentry enforced it: but 
when it did not, they often resisted it—very much as 
the Catholics resisted the laws against their religion. 

The effect of the commercial restrictions was to 
make Ireland known to the continent, and the con- 
tinent to Ireland, in the way of trade, even though 
illicit trade. Especially they made closer the relations 
with France, exactly as the penal laws linked the two 
countries by the stream of Irish recruits. 


212 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


All these laws applied to the whole of Ireland 
equally; but the result was different in Ulster because 
the population there was much more largely Protes- 
tant, and because the Protestants were of two kinds. 
From the time of James I, many Scotch dissenters had 
settled in Ireland. Under Charles II, and later, when 
Presbyterians and other nonconformists were perse- 
cuted in Scotland, they fled in great numbers to 
Ireland, and the Irish Government—whose policy was 
to increase the number of Protestants in the country 
—left them on the whole undisturbed. Yet many 
Presbyterian munisters were imprisoned under 
Charles IJ. Under William, they had complete tolera- 
tion. But in the eighteenth century, the State 
Church asserted itself and refused to allow any one to 
be a magistrate or member of a town corporation 
unless he took Communion according to the rites of 
the Established Church. Marriages solemnised by 
Presbyterian ministers were not recognised: and 
though the Protestant nonconformists were less 
heavily penalised than the Catholics, they were shut 
out from all share in government. Naturally, they 
resented this. And when the commercial restrictions 
began to effect their enterprises in trade, emigration 
set in. 

In one way, Ulster was better off than the other 
provinces. England was not greatly concerned with 
the linen industry, and when William agreed to do his 
best to put an end to the Irish trade in woollen, he 
promised to encourage linen; and he brought over 
skilled workers from the continent, exiled Huguenots, 
to improve the manufacture. One of these, Crom- 
melin, selected Lisburn as the place to start his enter- 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 213 


prise, and this became a great centre of the trade, 
and the Crumlin Road in Belfast is called after this 
man. The linen industry was not confined to Ulster, 
though it throve best there. But it was not carried 
on in factories. Individual spinners and weavers 
worked in their own homes, like the handloom frieze 
makers to-day in the west. The trade was poorly 
paid, and the weaver was nearly always also the 
owner of a small farm which he could not work 
properly, and Ulster became at that time a country of 
very bad agriculture. The Irish Protestants showed 
their enterprise very largely by abandoning the 
country. They went to America in as great numbers 
as the Catholic Irish to France. But the Protestants 
went by whole families, and when America went to 
war with England, the Irish Protestants proved even 
more dangerous enemies than the Irish Catholics in 
the French service had ever been. 

Ireland was now owned almost entirely by members 
of the Established Church of Ireland, though a great 
many of the landowners were absentees, who lived in 
England and employed agents to manage their estates 
and to collect their rents—generally through ‘‘middle- 
men,’’ who took large farms and sublet. As a rule, 
the position of tenants on such estates was much 
worse than on those where the owner resided, spent 
his money among the Irish, and saw things with his 
own eyes. From these resident nobles and gentry, the 
Irish Parliament was manned—many of its members 
being younger sons, educated for professions, the 
law, medicine, or the army. The Irish Parliament 
did a great deal to foster the interest of Ireland as 
a whole: drainage and other useful works were carried 


214 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


out. But they could not prevent the English Parlia- 
ment from making laws over their heads which injured 
Irish trade. Neither could they control the choice of 
ministers. The Lord Lieutenant and his Chief 
Secretary were members of the English Government, 
and they were at the head of Irish administration. 
These were always Englishmen. The Lord Chancellor 
was always an Englishman, so was the Primate of the 
Church of Ireland; and throughout the eighteenth 
century the Primate was the chief adviser of the 
English Government in Ireland. 

Also, Irish taxation was unfairly burdened by 
charges put on it by the English Government. A 
separate Irish army, much larger in proportion than 
that of England, was paid for by Ireland, though it 
was used wherever it was required. Grants to 
favoured persons, who had done nothing for Ireland, 
were put on the Irish paylist and paid by the Irish 
tax payer. All these things were very much resented 
by the Irish of all classes. 

Agitation against them began, and the first great 
leader of it was Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, 
English by blood, Irish by birth, educated at Kilkenny 
School and Trinity College. This great writer raised 
a storm of indignation against a proposal to send over 
to Ireland a large supply of copper coinage. The 
profits from making the coin were to go to King 
George’s German mistress. Swift’s pamphlets were 
published as letters to the Press signed ‘‘M. B. 
Drapier.’’ They were written in the character of a 
Dublin tradesman, but everybody knew the author. 
Great rewards were offered for his detection, yet no 
evidence was offered, and Swift was worshipped by 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 215 


the people: and in many other writings he exposed 
the evils of Irish Government and also the faults of 
Irish character. His advice to Ireland was to supply 
its own wants: ‘‘ burn everything that comes from 
England except the coal.’? But he preached also 
incessantly that Irish traders injured their own 
commerce by supplying dishonest wares and inferior 
stuff. He preached the true doctrine that all Govern- 
ment must be in the interest of the governed, and that 
government ‘‘ without the consent of the governed ’’— 
such as the government of Ireland in the interests of 
England—was ‘‘ the very definition of slavery ’’; and 
he claimed for Ireland the rights of a nation. 

But when Swift spoke of the Irish nation, he meant 
the Irish Protestants. He desired humane treatment 
for the Irish Catholics, whose misery and poverty he 
described with terrible power: but he never thought of 
giving them equal rights; and he was the bitter enemy 
of all the claims of the Presbyterians. The difference 
between them and the Catholics, both of whom he 
regarded as dangerous, was, he said, that between 
a captive lion with teeth and claws drawn, and an 
angry cat at full liberty. No Irish Protestant before 
Grattan recognised that the freedom of Ireland must 
mean equal freedom for all the Irish. 

The Irish, destitute of leaders throughout this 
century, showed no signs of political resistance; but 
gradually there were stirrings of revolt among the 
peasantry against those forms of oppression which 
touched them nearest. In the first half of the century 
Ireland was still very thinly peopled after the wars of 
Cromwell and William: it was constantly said that its 
backwardness was due to the lack of labour. But as 


216 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


population increased, the demand for land grew, and 
workers were competing against each other for farms. 
Yet the first resistance of the tenantry was not to 
rent. They began to resist tithes, not because they 
refused to pay tithe to a church which was not theirs, 
but because the method of collection was harsh and 
often illegal. In Munster, bodies of disguised men, 
wearing white shirts over their clothes, assembled to 
attack tithe collectors. They were called the ‘‘White- 
boys,’’ and they attacked also those Catholic peasants 
who consented to pay what the majority thought 
unfair. Very soon this method spread to rent, and 
the Whiteboys punished a man who bid a high rent to 
get his neighbour’s farm. It was a kind of trade 
union of labourers, and, like the early trade unions in 
England, it often carried out its sentences very 
savagely. Ireland, which was driven by the Penal 
Laws to become a Catholic secret society, tended to 
become also an agrarian secret society. No one would 
and no one dare give evidence against the Whiteboys. 
The people did not feel that the government was 
government in their interest or according to their 
notions of justice. 

In the north, a similar society called the Oakboys 
grew up among the Protestants, first designed to 
resist forced labour for road-making. But the move- 
ment extended here also, and the Ulster custom of 
‘tenant right’’ was largely established and main- 
tained by lawless violence. 

There was great ill-feeling among the Protestant 
workers against the Catholics, who often overbid 
them through land hunger. And matters came to a 
crisis in 1771, when the Marquis of Donegal, 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 217 


Chichester’s descendant, a great absentee landlord, 
sought to raise £100,000 by fines for renewing leases. 
Land was taken up by rich graziers, the small tillage 
farmers were driven out; there was rioting and a 
Coercion Act, and the end was that thousands of 
these angry Protestants went to America—which then 
also was governed by England from Westminster: 
and no element did more to defeat England in the War 
of Independence. 

The worst feature of this period in Irish history was 
the excessive power of the landlord class. That 
existed also in England, but in England even the poor 
were regarded as English citizens. In Ireland, the 
Catholic Irish, who were the bulk of the working popu- 
lation, were regarded and spoken of by the ruling 
landlord class as ‘‘ the common enemy.’’ Also, in 
England there was a strong middle class of manu- 
facturers and merchants. The restrictions on trade 
and commerce prevented the growth of any such class 
in Ireland, and the country was divided between those 
who owned the land and lived on rent and those who 
worked and paid rent. As there was peace, the 
people increased rapidly in numbers, and the more 
they multiplied, the easier it was to get a high rent. 
The power and the wealth of the landowning class 
increased, and they grew as a class, extravagant and 
idle. 

Yet the best of them did what they could for the 
country on their estates and in Parliament, and they 
began to have a feeling for the land and for its pros- 
perity. Also, like nearly every other ruling class, they 
produced a number of remarkable men. Swift, Gold- 
smith, and Burke—perhaps the three greatest English 


218 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


writers of the eighteenth century—were all Irish. 
Congreve, Farquhar, and Sheridan—the wittiest 
dramatists of that age—were Irish Protestants, too; 
and in the end of this age, when the great struggle 
between England and France was fought out, Welling- 
ton and Castlereagh were men born and bred in 
Ireland, and they were two of Napoleon’s most 
formidable antagonists. 

Of these great names that of Burke stands highest 
for political wisdom. His career as a politician lay in 
England: but his condemnation of the whole system 
on which Ireland was governed comes down to us in 
two famous Letters written for publication. He makes 
it plain that the true purpose of the penal laws was 
not the advancement of Protestantism. ‘‘ The spirit 
of those proceedings did not commence at that era 
nor was religion of any kind their primary object. 
What was done was not in the spirit of a contest 
between two religious factions but between two 
adverse nations. The Statutes of Kilkenny show that 
the spirit of the Popery laws, and some even of their 
actual provisions, had existed in that harassed country 
before the words ‘ Protestant’ and ‘ Papist’ were 
heard in the world.’’ 

Religion was only a pretext in the ‘‘ Popery laws.’’ 
‘“ Their declared object was to reduce the Catholics 
of Ireland to a miserable populace, without property, 
without estimation, without education. The professed 
object was to deprive the few men who, in spite of 
thoselaws, might hold or obtain any property amongst 
them, of all sort of influence or authority over the 
rest. They divided the nation into two distinct bodies, 
without common interest, sympathy, or connexion. 


THE PERIOD OF THE PENAL LAWS 219 


One of those bodies was to possess all the franchise, 
all the property, all the education: the other was to 
be composed of drawers of water and cutters of turf 
for them.’’ 

The plan, he added, in the concluding passage of 
his Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, was well de- 
vised. The penal code was ‘‘a machine of wise and 
elaborate contrivance; and as well fitted for the 
oppression, impoverishment, and degradation of a 
people—and the debasement, in them, of human 
nature itself—as ever proceeded from the perverted 
ingenuity.’ 

From this engine of oppression the best of the Irish 
Protestants sought to deliver Ireland; some like Burke 
and Grattan by constitutional means; some like Lord 
Edward Fitzgerald, Tone and the Emmets by armed 
insurrection. But the mass of the Protestants un- 
happily regarded every extension of justice to 
Catholics as a surrender of their own privileges. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


Grattan’s Parliament and the Rebellion of 1798. 


FRoM the beginning of George III’s reign, the 
Irish Protestant people began to kick against the 
subjection imposed on them. After the Irish Parlia- 
ment had passed an Act, the English Privy Council, 
representing the king, claimed and used the right to 
alter or veto it. Moreover, Government could do 
almost as it pleased in the Irish Parliament, because 
many of its members represented boroughs practically 
owned by a single person. Some great men could 
control forty or fifty votes in a House of two hundred, 
and Government made a bargain with those few to 
keep a majority. Yet, what was called a ‘‘ National 
Party ’’ grew up, representing the Protestant nation, 
—that is, the colonists; and two men were prominent 
in it, Henry Flood and Henry Grattan. 

Then came the war with America, and all Ireland 
was American in sympathy. Presbyterian Ulster had 
sent, it is said, two hundred thousand emigrants. 
Fight of those who signed the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, were of Irish stock, and in the armies 
Irishmen always were to the front; while a Wexford- 
man, John Barry, was ‘‘ the Father of the American 
Navy.’’? Even the governing Protestant ascendency 
was in sympathy with America’s resistance to taxation 
framed in the interest of England, not of those who 
paid the taxes. Yet the Anglo-Irish Parliament 

220 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 221 


supported the war, and the English Parliament 
wished in return to make certain concessions to 
relieve Irish trade: but it was stopped by a 
furious outcry from the commercial people in 
England. The sense that all Irish were being 
treated unfairly helped to unite the country, and 
Grattan persuaded the Irish Parliament to abolish 
the Penal Law which forbade Catholics to purchase 
land. “‘ The Irish Protestant can never be free till 
the Irish Catholic has ceased to be a slave,’’ was 
Grattan’s declaration of policy. But Flood, the other 
great champion of liberty for the Irish Parliament, 
was against all concessions to Catholics. 

England was now at war with France and Spain as 
well as with America, and English forces were dis- 
persed over the world. In 1778, Paul Jones, a famous 
French privateer, captured a ship in Belfast Lough, 
where already, in 1760, a French raiding party under 
Thurot had landed and done damage. The Mayor of 
Belfast, by this time a town of some fifteen thousand 
people, appealed for troops, but was told that only a 
handful could be spared: and instantly the Protestants 
began to raise Volunteers. The movement spread 
everywhere over Ireland, the great nobles putting 
themselves at its head, especially the chief of the 
house of Kildare, now the Duke of Leinster. By 1770, 
the Volunteers were 40,000 strong—all Protestants. 
Catholics were not permitted to join: at this time, no 
Catholic could legally be in the British army. But 
Catholic merchants subscribed funds. It was a move- 
ment of all Ireland. When Parliament met, the new 
troops paraded in the streets, and in the House of 
Commons Grattan moved a resolution that Free Trade 


222 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


—that is, unrestricted commerce—was necessary; 
and it passed unanimously. When Government did 
not comply with the demands, the Volunteers of 
Dublin paraded with cannon, hung with a label, ‘‘Free 
Trade, or This.’? Then the English Prime Minister 
gave way, and all restraints on Irish trade were 
abolished. 

As a recognition of the part played by Presby- 
terians, the Irish Parliament passed an Act putting 
Dissenters on an equality with Churchmen. 

Yet other reforms making for Irish freedom were 
refused by the English Privy Council, and for two 
years Government, by using in Parliament its majority 
—whose votes were paid for by jobs—defeated the 
National Party. Then it was decided to call a 
Convention of the Ulster Volunteers which, on 
February 15, 1782, met in the church at Dungannon. 
They passed several resolutions, of which the most 
important claimed that only the Irish Parliament had 
power to bind Ireland by laws: obedience in Ireland 
was due to the king as King of Ireland. Also, this 
assembly of armed Ulster Protestants declared for the 
right of every man to choose his own religion, and 
for relaxing the Penal Laws against the Catholics. 

Two months later, the Irish Parliament moved an 
address to the Crown declaring itself independent of 
any other legislature. The Volunteers were too strong 
to be disregarded, and the English Parliament granted 
Ireland’s demands, first, indirectly: later, when the 
demand was pressed—it was Flood who insisted on 
this—Fox’s ministry passed an Act of Renunciation 
declaring that Ireland’s right to be bound by the laws 
of its own Parliament and to have all its law cases 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 223 


decided in its own law courts, was ‘‘ established for 
ever and should at no time hereafter be questioned 
or questionable.’’ But Flood, unlike Grattan, was 
fully determined that the Irish Parliament should be a 
Protestant Parliament only. 

In this way came into being what is called Grattan’s 
Parliament, which lasted for eighteen years. It was 
of great service to the country, directly and indirectly. 
The advance in general prosperity was said to be 
unequalled anywhere in Europe. John Foster, the 
man chiefly in charge of legislation to promote 
commerce, applied himself strenuously to develop 
agriculture and to promote tillage. The difficulty in 
Ireland has always been that owing to the climate, 
pasture farming, which gives less employment and 
produces less wealth, can often be more profitably 
carried on, because it imvolves a great deal less 
expense and less risk. Foster gave protection to Irish 
corn by arranging that no grain should be imported so 
long as Irish corn was on sale at a fair price, which 
he fixed. Also, he gave a bounty—that is, an 
addition to the price—on Irish grain when exported, 
thus encouraging the growing of it. Other industries 
also received bounties, and many trades began to 
revive which had wasted away under the restrictions. 

Indirectly, also, the Parliament was of use, because 
it strengthened the Irish capital, which was then 
incomparably the greatest city in Ireland, and one of 
the most important in Europe. Parliament met 
oftener, its proceedings had more interest, and the 
wealthy people of Ireland lived there more and spent 
much money on building the splendid houses of which 
so many remain. All the skilled crafts and the arts 


224 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


flourished; the life of the city was full of interest. 
Catholics, except for a few landed gentry, had a 
position only in commerce, but many of them had 
grown very prosperous, both in Dublin and in Cork. 

But the freedom for which Parliament had 
bargained was in many ways unreal. To-day, every 
Parliament in the British Empire, except that at 
Westminster, has been created by an Act passed at 
Westminster, and is therefore in theory subordinate, 
since in theory Parliament can repeal any of its own 
Acts. But the Irish Parliament, like that of West- 
minster, had been created by direct summons from 
the Crown. It was, in theory, co-equal with 
Westminster. Accordingly, in theory, if the Govern- 
ment at Westminster declared war or declared peace, 
or concluded a Treaty with a foreign power, that had 
no effect in Ireland until the Irish Ministry passed 
the same decree. It was the same about suc- 
cession to the throne. And unfortunately, a case 
soon arose when it was possible that the two Parlia- 
ments might come to different conclusions. George 
III was made mcapable by a fit of madness: it was a 
question whether the Prince of Wales should be 
appointed Regent. The English Parliament took one 
view, the Irish Parliament another; and, though the 
matter was settled by the king’s recovery, everybody 
saw the danger and imconvenience of two equal 
Parliaments under one king. 

At present, in the British Commonwealth of 
Nations, the Dominion Parliaments are practically 
independent, and these difficulties are avoided because 
there is a general desire to avoid them. But Grattan’s 
Parliament was the first great trial of a free 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 225 


parliament in the British Empire, made since parlia- 
ment had become really the governing power and 
more important than the king; so that difficulties were 
sure to arise. Also, and this had much more weight, 
it was not really free, and not really powerful: far less 
so than is the Parliament of any Dominion to-day. 

In the first place, it was not powerful because it was 
not representative. Any man that got in for one of 
the boroughs that were controlled by some great 
owner was bound to vote on important matters with 
the man who gave him his seat. This abuse existed 
also in the English Parliament, but to nothing like the 
same extent. Reform was needed to make the 
Parliament powerful, because then its vote would 
represent the people at large, and not a handful of 
men who could be bribed by the Government with 
peerages or paid offices. Grattan held that the main 
thing in reform was to abolish the law which prevented 
Catholics, the mass of the people, from being mem- 
bers of Parliament or voting. But the difficulty in 
carrying Reform was that the National Pary, or 
Patriots, were not agreed about giving equal rights 
to Catholics. 

Secondly, the Parliament was not really free 
because it could not overthrow a ministry. In every 
Parliament to-day, if the ministry is defeated on a 
policy, it resigns office. A particular measure may be 
rejected, and the ministry may carry on; but if the 
ministry has not the confidence of the House, a new 
policy is needed, and commonsense demands that a 
policy shall be carried out by men who believe in it, 
since those taking charge of Government may easily 
make even a good plan fail. Grattan’s Parliament 


(D 574) H 


226 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


could defeat proposals of the Ministers; it could even 
force Ministers to adopt a policy; but so long as the 
Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary had the 
confidence of the Parliament at Westminster, to 
whose Ministry they belonged, they remained in 
charge of Irish policy. Grattan never held office in 
Grattan’s Parliament. 

Yet office was offered to him. But the taking of 
paid office had become so associated with corruption 
—the taking of jobs—that he decided to remain a 
private member. This was very probably an unwise 
decision, for he could have done more in office to 
ensure the success of his own ideas: and it was the 
defeat of Grattan’s policy that brought about the end 
of Grattan’s Parliament. 

It must always be remembered that this experiment 
of a free Irish Parliament was tried at a terribly diff- 
cult time. In 1789, only seven years after it gained 
freedom, the French Revolution shook all Europe. The 
ideas which the Revolution stood for, ‘‘ Liberty, 
Equality, and Fraternity,’’ meant the abolition of 
religious tests, of tithes, and of privilege for certain 
classes. Naturally, these made a great appeal to Irish 
Catholics. For the first time in the century, this 
great body began to interest itself keenly in politics. 
On the other hand, as the Revolution developed, it 
made war on the Catholic Church and on all religion. 
France had many Irish religious establishments; 
many Irishmen were high in the royalist army. A 
French Republican began to mean to Catholic Ireland 
what a Russian Bolshevist does to-day. On the whole, 
Catholic Ireland turned against revolutionary France; 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 227 


and England, being now at war with France, needed 
soldiers. Catholics had been included in the rank and 
file illegally, from an early period in the century, and 
from the time of the American war, openly; but no 
Catholic could hold a commission. 

In Scotland the statesmanship of Chatham had seen 
the wisdom of conciliating Gaelic sentiment by forming 
Highland regiments. Nothing of the same kind was 
ever tried in Ireland; no appeal was made to racial 
pride; and what was done was only done after the 
last moment for doing it had passed. Still, now for 
the first time, Irish regiments were raised without a 
religious test. 

The Connaught Rangers date from 1793, and 
other regiments which had a_ glorious history 
were raised then, though of the original titles 
only this name survived. From this time forward, 
the British army took the place of the French, 
as the field in which Irish Catholics sought employ- 
ment and distinction. At the same time, Grattan’s 
policy prevailed so far as to give partial freedom 
to Catholics, who now became entitled to vote 
for Members of Parliament. But the opposition 
refused to allow them to be elected to Parliament, 
thus excluding the richer and more educated from all 
share in government, while they allowed the poor, 
often illiterate, to have the vote. The explanation is 
no doubt that every landlord counted on being able to 
make his tenants vote as he pleased. 

In the north of Ireland, however, the French 
Revolution had a very different effect. Presby- 
terlanism was naturally a democratic religion. The 
republican principle in America had been largely 


228 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


established by Presbyterians, and with the help of 
France: and Belfast, whose population had increased 
greatly since the restrictions were taken off 
commerce, became a centre of revolutionary ideas. 
Grattan’s policy of removing the inequalities from 
among Irish citizens had gained new recruits very 
different from himself. Chief among them was a 
young barrister, educated in Trinity—Theobald Wolfe 
Tone, son of a Dublin coach-maker. The Republican 
ideal was soon adopted by him; yet, because he was 
an able politician and recognised that only a minority 
was for it, he worked to include as many as possible 
with him in his campaign for ‘‘ equal representation of 
all the people in Parliament.’’ In October, 1791, he 
founded the first Society of United Irishmen at 
Belfast, which at this time gave the most effective 
support to Catholic claims. In 1792, a body of 
Catholic delegates on their way to present a petition 
to the king were carried in triumph through the 
Belfast streets. The United Irish organisation spread 
everywhere in Ireland, but its chief strength lay in 
Ulster. Yet in Dublin it was backed by a number of 
brilliant young men, chief of whom was Lord Edward 
Fitzgerald, a younger son of the Duke of Leinster. 
Another was Thomas Addis Emmet, a barrister of 
note. Although some of these men, like Tone, were 
Republicans by preference, Emmet declared after- 
wards that the bulk of them desired no more than a 
reform; and reform seemed in sight. A coalition 
government in England sent over Lord Fitzwilliam, a 
known supporter of the Catholic claims, to be Lord 
Lieutenant in the beginning of 1795. He gave the 
country to understand that emancipation—that is, the 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 220 


freeing of Catholics from all restrictions specially 
imposed on their religion—would be_ proposed; 
and he proposed also to dismiss from office the 
most important men who were against the 
policy. Chief of these was the Lord Chancellor, 
Fitzgibbon, Lord Clare, the first Irish Chancellor 
of that century. Pitt prevented this dismissal. 
But Fitzwilliam dismissed Beresford, Chief Com- 
missioner of Customs, and chief controller of 
jobs. Beresford went to George III, persuaded the 
king that his Coronation oath forbade him to allow 
equality of rights to Catholics, and Fitzwilliam was 
recalled. All Dublin went into mourning for a day. 
Those who looked to getting reform through Parlia- 
ment, were now set aside for those who sought free- 
dom by force of arms. Wolfe Tone sailed for 
America, to go thence to France in search of support; 
and the United Irish movement definitely became a 
conspiracy to rebel. The Irish Government tried to 
stamp it out by the utmost severity. Suspected men 
were kidnapped and sent to serve in the fleet. Also, 
the Government did its utmost to defeat the United 
Irish movement by creating dissension. 

In Ulster, the United Irish movement had many 
popular Protestant leaders. On the other hand, two 
Leagues connected with the land were at war with 
each other. Ulster Protestants complained that 
Catholics came in and offered a higher rent for their 
farms, and the ‘‘ Peep o’ Day Boys,’’ as they were 
called, attacked Catholic houses. A rival Catholic 
organisation called the ‘‘ Defenders’’ grew up, and, 
in 1796, the two parties met in a kind of battle at a 
place called the Diamond in County Armagh, where 


230 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the Catholics were routed. That evening was founded 
the Orange Order, a secret oathbound society limited 
to Protestants. Immediately after this began a 
general campaign in which Catholics were driven by 
thousands out of their holdings. Government and the 
magistrates made no serious attempt to check this 
lawlessness. It was the Government’s policy at this 
time to keep Protestant and Catholic at war. 

They knew, no doubt, that besides Tone, Lord 
Edward Fitzgerald and others had gone to the con- 
tinent to persuade the victorious French to send an 
expedition to Ireland: and in December, 1796, the 
famous General Hoche set out with fifteen thousand 
soldiers and a great naval force. Fog scattered 
them, but thirty-five sail reached Bantry Bay. Hoche, 
however, was still lost, and Grouchy, his second in 
command, did not land at once; then a storm from 
the east drove them out to sea again. 

All through the south of Ireland the people showed 
no desire to support the French. Munster had been 
the recruiting ground for the Irish Brigade, and its 
sympathies were all royalist. But Government 
increased its severities, especially in the north, where 
the local yeomanry and some British troops dealt 
cruelly with Protestant dissenters. 

In 1797, another great fleet destined for Ireland 
lay in the Texel—Holland being then allied with the 
French Republic—at the very time when the mutiny of 
the Nore paralysed the British fleet: and again the 
weather helped England. The wind blew steady for 
six weeks from the one point which prevented sailing 
out, and when at last the fleet got out, England was 
ready, and crushed them at Camperdown. 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 231 


Next month, Hoche, the great supporter of the Irish 
project, died. There was a new dragooning of the 
country, again especially of Ulster, and a young 
Presbyterian farmer, William Orr, was executed for 
administering the United Irish oath. At this period, 
Sir Ralph Abercromby, a distinguished soldier, was 
sent over to Ireland as commander-in-chief, and he 
complained fiercely that the army had _ been 
employed by a set of men ‘‘in measures which 
they durst not avow, nor sanction.’’ But Aber- 
cromby resigned in disgust, and Grattan having 
lost the proposal to attempt conciliation by 
granting reform, left the House with his following 
for over a year. Meanwhile, spies were busy. 
One, Leonard MacNally, was a barrister, pass- 
ing as a leading patriot, and employed to defend the 
men whom he had brought into the dock. A small 
Executive Directory controlled the United Irishmen, 
and Lord Edward Fitzgerald was in command of their 
forces. In March, on a spy’s information, most of 
the Directory were seized, and a mass of papers dis- 
covered. Martial law was proclaimed over the 
country, and troops were put at free quarters—that 
is, lodged in private houses without payment made. 
They were under no discipline, and committed many 
atrocities. 

Lord Edward was still at large, and had fixed 
May, 1708, for the rising. But on the 19th he was 
taken by the police and mortally wounded. On the 
23rd there were small disconnected outbreaks in parts 
of Leinster—nothing elsewhere. By the 26th, all this 
Original trouble was over. There was no rising in 
Wicklow or Wexford; but the troops gathered men in 


232 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


before the magistrates and they were shot without 
trial—thirty-four at Dunlavin on the 24th, twenty- 
eight at Carnew on the 25th. On May 26th, Father 
John Murphy, curate of Boulavogue, east of Gorey, 
called his people together and advised them to defend 
themselves, offering to lead them. They ambushed a 
party of yeomanry who were scouring the country, 
and killed the whole party with pitchforks. So they 
began to get arms, and the force rolled up like a snow- 
ball. On the 27th, they were attacked by a small 
force of militia and cavalry at Oulart Hill, and routed 
them. Next day they captured the town of Ennis- 
corthy by assault, and the rebellion into which the 
most orderly county in Ireland had been driven became 
awar. They took Wexford, twelve thousand soldiers 
with artillery evacuating it before them. In other 
engagements they were successful, but at the siege of 
New Ross a pitched battle of twelve hours long was 
turned against them at the end by General Johnson. 
This really decided the issue, though the final main 
battle was at Vinegar Hill, outside Enniscorthy. 

This was the rebellion of ’98. In the north, there 
was one formidable fight when the rebels, led by 
Presbyterian farmers, attacked Antrim town, but they 
were defeated. Only in Wexford was there any 
success of the insurgents, and no other county joined. 

The Wexford men fought with desperate valour; 
but, as always happens when an undisciplined mass of 
people take arms, there were many brutalities which 
are remembered when acts of leniency are forgotten. 
Two things stand out above all, and these happened 
in the demoralisation of defeat. In Wexford, while 
the fighting force was engaged in the field, the town 


GRATTAN’S PARLIAMENT 233 


mob brought out the Protestant prisoners and killed 
nearly a hundred on the bridge. Worse still was the 
deed at Scullabogue barn, which was used to hold a 
whole body of Protestant prisoners, while the battle 
of New Ross was being fought. Stragglers from the 
fight came, saying all Protestants were to be killed— 
and the thing was done. Five generations have not 
undone the harm of that barbarity. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 
The Union. 


Two months after the defeat of the rebels at Vinegar 
Hill, a small expedition from France landed at 
Killala in Mayo, under Humbert. There were about 
one thousand of them. General Lake, who had 
directed all the dragooning operations, was sent down 
with twenty thousand men against them, and met the 
French at Castlebar. The result showed how true 
was Abercromby’s judgment that troops so demoral- 
ised by plunder and outrage were ‘‘ dangerous to 
everyone except the enemy.’’ British infantry were 
never anywhere else so disgracefully routed. But a 
thousand men cannot conquer a modern kingdom, and 
Humbert finally had to surrender after marching over 
all north Connacht unopposed. 

One more attempt was made by the French to help 
themselves by making trouble for England. Another 
naval expedition sailed in September, with Tone on 
board. But the British navy was a very different 
force from Lake’s army, and superior British forces 
concentrated on the French and overpowered them off 
Lough Swilly. Tone was captured and recognised; 
he claimed to be shot, as was the French custom with 
émigrés taken in arms: but the court sentenced him to 
be hanged, and he cut his throat. So ended the most 
formidable opponent that England had found in Ireland 
since the day of Red Hugh O’Donnell. 

234 


THE UNION 235 


The rebellion, and the severities which led up to it 
and followed it, had left Ireland part cowed, part 
scared and all horrified by the scenes of blood: and 
the British Government which had for a long time 
considered the idea of a Union, such as had been 
effected with Scotland, now saw their chance to carry 
it through. If the threat of armed rebellion in 1782 
gained a free Parliament, the appeal to physical force 
in 1798 made the Union not only possible, but certain. 

In 1707, the Scottish Parliament was united with 
that of Westminster, and though the Union was for 
long resisted by many Scots, on the whole the results 
had satisfied, and have continued to satisfy, both 
countries. But in 1707, Union for Scotland meant 
freedom for Scottish trade all over the British 
dominions: and at that time the Irish Parliament de- 
sired a similar Union. From 1782 onward, Ireland 
had gained this freedom: and a very strong national 
pride had been developed. Union had far less induce- 
ments to offer than in 1707. 

Yet, at the close of 1798, the country had been 
through a period of such savage turmoil that the 
average man had simply one desire—tranquillity, 
Also, for the majority of the Irish people the Irish 
Parliament was not their Parhament. It had refused 
them the equal right of citizens. And in particular, 
the Catholic bishops—nearly all of whom had been 
trained in monarchist and Catholic France—feared and 
disliked the spread of Revolutionary ideas and the 
alliance with Revolutionary France. The British 
Government and those Irish who desired a Union, 
set themselves to win Catholics to their side; and, 
because in the period of Penal Laws the Catholic 


236 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


aristocracy had ceased to exist, the bishops and 
priests were more than usually influential. 

English statesmen considered that to give equality 
of right to Catholics in a self-governing Ireland would 
mean the establishment of a Catholic State; but that if 
Ireland were thrown in with Great Britain, Catholics, 
being a minority of the whole, could never become 
predominant; and therefore that Catholic emancipation 
could be safely promised to be granted after the 
Union. Pitt, the great English Minister, and his Lord 
Lieutenant, Cornwallis, encouraged Catholics to 
favour Union on this ground. In Cork, then the second 
city of Ireland, the Corporation was for the Union; 
they believed it would increase the prosperity of Cork, 
and make it a great port. In Dublin, however, pro- 
fessional men and merchants saw clearly that the 
Irish capital would lose greatly if it ceased to be the 
seat of a representative government, and they 
opposed the Union as a body, from interest as well as 
from national sentiment. 

The peasantry and the farmers had little oppor- 
tunity to express their views; but it is plain that the 
whole of this class were oppressed by the apathy 
which follows a period of shocking events. And in 
Ulster, where there had been a strong movement 
towards what we call democracy—that is, to claiming 
a form of government which shall be willingly 
supported by all classes of the citizens—the effects of 
the rebellion had been bad. Propaganda was busy; 
Protestant Ulster was brought to believe that the 
Wexford rebellion had been a rising of Catholics to 
massacre all Protestants; thus the two great sections 
of the Irish people were successfully estranged. 


THE UNION 237 


Notably enough, however, the Orange Society in 
Ulster was bitterly opposed to the surrender of 
Ireland’s right to self-government. So, too, were the 
ablest men among the educated Catholics. Daniel 
O’Connell, at a meeting of the lay Catholics in Dublin, 
making his first public speech, said that the Irish 
Catholics would never ‘“‘ seek advantages as a sect 
that would destroy them as a nation.’’ 

But the people who had power to decide about the 
Union were those whom the Irish Parliament really re- 
presented and from whom it was manned—the Irish 
Protestant gentry. Beyond all question, the ablest 
and the best of them opposed it. Grattan, who in 
1798 had retired in despair, returned to the House 
of Commons when the measure was first proposed; 
and he was the most eloquent spokesman against it. 
But the strongest case against it, as a measure hostile 
to the interest of Ireland, was made by the Speaker 
of the House, John Foster, a fierce opponent of 
Catholic claims, and an advocate of the utmost 
severity against rebellion. His main objections were 
that an absentee Parliament could never be as service- 
able as a resident one; that the change to London 
would draw the best elements out of the country; and 
that it would involve Ireland, with its small national 
debt and low taxation, in a common system with 
Great Britain’s huge debt and high taxes. He pointed 
to the growing prosperity of the country since 1782 
—which was admitted on all sides; the advance in 
prosperity since the Parliament got its freedom was 
said to have been without parallel in Europe. 

Experience proved the truth of his contentions, 
and he had the intelligence of the House on his side. 


238 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


But by the close of 1799, Government had secured the 
votes. Twenty-eight new peerages were created, 
and there were twenty-six promotions in the peerage. 
Cash supplanted honours. Eighty boroughs, return- 
ing one hundred and sixty members, were purchased 
from their owners for a million and a quarter; the 
cost of this transaction was added to the Irish 
national debt. 

Yet though bribery was the means to carry the 
measure, it would not have passed but for the fears to 
which the Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, Lord Clare, 
made a formidable appeal. 

‘“What,’’ he asked, ‘‘ was the situation of Ireland 
at the Revolution, and what is it at this day? The 
whole power and property of the country has been 
conferred by successive monarchs of England upon an 
English colony, composed of three sets of English 
adventurers who poured into this country at the 
termination of three successive rebellions; confiscation 
is their common title; and from their first settlement 
they have been hemmed in on every side by the old 
inhabitants of the island, brooding over their discon- 
tents in sullen indignation. 

‘‘ What was the security of the English settlers for 
their physical existence at the Revolution? And what 
is the security of their descendants at this day? The 
powerful and commanding protection of Great Britain. 
If by any fatality it fails, you are at the mercy of the 
old inhabitants of this island; and I should have hoped 
that the samples of mercy exhibited by them in the 
progress of the late rebellion would have taught the 
gentlemen who call themselves the Irish nation to 


THE UNION 239 


reflect with sober attention on the dangers which 
surround them.’’ 

That speech shows the attitude of those Irishmen 
whom Clare represented towards the mass of the Irish 
people; and even in the nineteenth century it lasted 
on. Partly through bribes, and partly through fear 
for loss of their property and of their privileged 
position, the Protestant nobles and gentry surren- 
dered the government of the country which had been 
in their hands. The consequences of their action fell 
largely on their successors, who, after a century, lost 
great part of the property and all of their right to 
leadership. 

The only possible defence for the manner in which 
the Union was brought about is to say that it was a 
War measure, carried out when England was in the 
throes of a long war with Napoleonic France. We 
of this generation know how hurriedly and confusedly 
things are done at such a time. Yet the iniquity of 
the transaction developed after the parliamentary 
vote. When the Union had been carried, Pitt pro- 
posed to carry out his pledge and emancipate the 
Catholics. But as soon as it was mentioned, the king 
refused his consent. Pitt resigned his office as Prime 
Minister for a time, but made no effective effort to 
secure fulfilment of the promise. 

Many who have held that the Union was in principle 
a wise measure, and have opposed the undoing of it, 
yet admit that it was carried in such a way as must 
certainly produce bad results. One of the most 
eminent of them has pointed out that the Scottish Act 
of Union put into legal form a real Treaty between 
two independent States for their common advantage, 


240 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


after careful bargaining; but that in Ireland things 
were very different. 

‘‘ The Irish Protestants were dazed with horror at 
the massacres of the rebellion; the Irish Catholics 
were lulled in acquiescence by promises which were 
made only to be broken; no appeal was made to the 
Irish constituencies; and the members of both Houses 
of Parliament were corrupted. The Act of the Union 
was, in short, an agreement which, could it have been 
referred to a court of law, must at once have been 
cancelled as a contract hopelessly tainted with fraud 
and corruption.’’ 

The real condemnation of the law which abolished 
self-government in Ireland is that for a century 
Ireland struggled to undo it, and that after one 
hundred and twenty years it had to be undone. 

For the time, however, victory was decisive. The 
struggle against Napoleon lasted fifteen years more, 
and Ireland supplied many thousands of soldiers to 
fight against him, and called for no troops to put 
down rebellion at home—except for a brief and tragic 
moment. 

The United Irish Organisation still lingered as a 
secret society, and it had agents busy in France. In 
Ireland its leader was Robert Emmet, whose elder 
brother, Thomas Addis Emmet, was now in exile. 
Robert Emmet had been expelled from Trinity College 
in 1798 on charge of sedition. He was a young man 
of great promise, betrothed to Sarah Curran, daughter 
of one of the great orators of the Irish bar; and for 
three years after the Union he plotted ceaselessly. 
Finally, in July 1803, an attempt was made by him 
and his band to seize Dublin Castle. It failed 


THE UNION 241 


ignominiously; the only result was the killing in the 
tumult of an old and very humane judge, Lord 
Kilwarden. Emmet fled to the Dublin mountains, but 
was seized, tried, and sentenced not long after, and 
was publicly hanged in the street where Lord 
Kilwarden died. Yet the speech which he made from 
the dock before sentence was passed on him had 
such beauty and power and sincerity that it sank into 
the minds of the Irish people and transmitted his 
aspiration for national freedom. He refused to be 
judged by the immediate result of his action; and 
Ireland has always judged him, and others who 
followed his example, as he desired that they should 
be judged. The last words of his speech have never 
been forgotten 
‘“Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man 
who knows my motives dares now vindicate them, 
let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. When 
my country takes her place among the nations of 
the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph 
be written.”’ 

For the time it seemed indeed as if Ireland would 
be no more heard of among the nations. Those who 
represented the ‘‘nation’’ for which Swift spoke, 
and which Flood defended, had agreed to swamp their 
separate national being and to give back the freedom 
which they gained in 1782. Those who had kept the 
name of Ireland alive on the continent through the 
period of the penal laws—soldiers, seamen, states- 
men of the Gaelic race, or of the old Anglo-Irish 
Catholic families—had to face a new outlook. Austria, 
Spain, and Italy all had welcomed them; but the main 
field of their employment was in Catholic Royalist 


242 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


France. When the French Revolution came, their ties 
with the French service were broken; and at the same 
moment England opened to them a career in the English 
armies. Twenty-five years of war followed in which 
England was on the side of the great Catholic powers 
—Austria and Spain—against France, which had 
turned against Catholicism: and Ireland found its 
sympathies divided. The Irish Catholic clergy, trained 
for the most part in royalist France, now sided with 
England: and in the early years of the struggle 
Catholic laymen freely entered the English service. 
Even in 1796, the expedition under Hoche and 
Grouchy found West Cork no way friendly. 

After the horrors of 1798 French help was 
welcomed in Connacht: and after the Union there was 
still a centre of Irish revolutionary conspiracy in Paris 
in touch with Emmet at home. These men persuaded 
Napoleon to set up a new Irish Brigade, and the 
framework was formed. Some of Emmet’s associates 
who escaped, notably Miles Byrne, joined this corps, 
and it fought on many fields: in the Peninsula it 
fought against Irish regiments in the British service. 
But little more than the officers of it were Irish: the 
rank and file eventually consisted of Poles. In the 
last ten years of Napoleonic war, Ireland was a great 
reservoir of military strength at England’s disposal. 
Individual Irish were drawn then and later by family 
connection to the Austrian service, where Catholicism 
was no bar to the highest promotion. O’Donnells were 
distinguished there; Taaffes were rulers there; indeed 
a Taaffe was Prime Minister of Hungary on the eve 
of the Great European War. Spain also had her 
Irishmen: an O’Higgins was Governor of Chili and 


THE UNION 243 


Peru: his son became the Liberator who gained inde- 
pendence for their country. 

Scarcely anything reminded Europe that Ireland 
existed—except indeed the voice of one poet. It is 
the fashion now todecry Thomas Moore; but his ‘‘Irish 
Melodies,’’ published from 1808 onwards, gave ex- 
pression in a widely read language to much that had 
often been said by the obscure schoolmasters, farmers 
and labourers, who, in the eighteenth century, main- 
tained the tradition of Gaelic poetry. Moore knew 
no Irish, but Irish airs gave him his inspiration: and 
he, perhaps more than any other force in these early 
years of the nineteenth century, kept Europe—for his 
reputation was European—aware that there was an 
Irish nation, which had suffered and was suffering. 
He had been the friend of Robert Emmet, and the best 
known of his lyrics, ‘‘ She is far from the land where 
her young hero sleeps,’’ was a lament for Sarah 
Curran: and the other scarcely less famous, ‘‘ When 
he who adores thee,’’ was everywhere associated 
with Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Moore was no hero, 
and was not a great poet: but he raised the heart of 
Ireland in its darkest hour, and Ireland then paid 
him with adoration. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 
After the Union. 


FoR fifteen years after the Union was passed, 
England’s struggle with Napoleon kept up a great 
demand for corn and other foodstuffs. Labour was 
very cheap in Ireland, and the cheapest way to get 
it was to let land to small cotters who competed 
against each other to rent it. Also, landlords were 
disposed to multiply their tenants because everyone 
who had a holding valued at 40s. a year had a vote, 
and these votes must be given openly; so that a land- 
lord at an election disposed of the votes of his 
tenants, and if he had many votes at command, he 
could make a good bargain for himself. Under these 
conditions, the population multiplied very rapidly: the 
Irish peasants had accustomed themselves to live on 
nothing but potatoes, with milk—if they could get it. 
Also, the army employed a great many of the men. 
But when the war ended, prices fell; it became 
difficult for the tenants to get as much for their corn 
as would pay the high rent that they had bid; and 
there were many evictions. It began to pay land- 
lords better to let their land in large blocks to 
graziers; and this meant clearing off the cotters, who 
were forced to look for uncultivated land and break 
it in by spade labour. When the land was improved 
by their labour, the rent was often raised; or other 
244 


AFTER THE UNION 2456 


needy tenants would offer a higher rent to get it away 
from them. There was terrible distress everywhere. 

In Ulster it took a special form, because after the 
war people could not afford to buy so expensive an 
article as linen; and innumerable little spinners and 
handloom weavers were left destitute. Added to all 
this was the chance of a year when the potato crop 
failed. This happened in 1821 and 1822, and there 
was famine. But every year during the months of 
May, June, and July, when the old crop was 
exhausted, and before new potatoes came in, people 
must buy meal or beg or starve; and tens of thousands 
yearly went on the roads begging. 

Except agriculture and the linen trade, there was 
very little employment. The English Parliament, now 
in command of Ireland, kept up for a certain time the 
protective tariffs—that is to say, they forced those 
who brought in goods which could be made in Ireland 
to pay a taxon them. But even with this protection, 
Irish industries declined, because Dublin became less 
of a centre owing to the withdrawal of Parliament. 
Many rich men were obliged to live in England, and it 
became the fashion for all todo so. Finally, in 1820, 
all protection against competition from English manu- 
factures was withdrawn, and Irish factories in great 
measure had to shut up. In the century while Ireland 
was not permitted to have any trade except that in 
linen, English merchants had got too great a start of 
their Irish competitors. 

In short, the position of Ireland was going from bad 
to worse, and there was no authority specially charged 
to look after its needs. Even in England, distress 
was rife; and the whole concern of the English Parlia- 


246 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


ment was to develop the foreign trade so as to find 
wealth for English owners and work for English 
factory hands. Daniel O’Connell was now becoming 
the leader of the Irish people, and it seemed to him 
that the only chance for Ireland was to get back the 
right to manage her own affairs—to repeal the Union. 
But he demanded this right in the name of the whole 
Irish nation. 

O’Connell was the son of a landowner in the 
extreme west of Kerry. His ancestors had been the 
chiefs of a sept or small division of the native Irish; 
and as happened in many cases—even under the Penal 
Laws—they had been constantly recognised as leaders 
by their own people. They had been middlemen, taking 
land on the large scale and subletting it; they had also 
been very much concerned in smuggling; and when in 
1784, the Catholics acquired the right to buy land, 
they bought much property about them. But they 
had also always sent the younger sons to the French 
army, and General O’Connell was in command of the 
Irish Brigade when the French Revolution broke out. 
Daniel O’Connell, his nephew, was being educated at 
St. Omer in the north of France at this time. General 
O’Connell had to go into exile like other royalists, and 
his nephew fled from France the day that Louis XVI 
was guillotined. Daniel O’Connell was a devout 
Catholic, a royalist, and strongly opposed to Revolu- 
tionary France: and, in 1803, when special constables 
were enrolled at the time of Emmet’s rising, he joined 
them. But he had opposed the Union, and he 
belonged to the Catholic body which demanded 
emancipation—that is to say, equal rights with other 


AFTER THE UNION 247 


citizens—and he used his extraordinary eloquence and 
skill as a lawyer to plead this cause. 

A remarkable thing happened in 1813. Pitt was 
still in favour of Catholic emancipation, and he con- 
ceived that it would be safer if the English Govern- 
ment could get control over the Catholic Church in 
Ireland. His proposal was that emancipation should 
be granted on condition that the English Government 
were allowed to prevent any priest whom they 
disapproved from becoming a bishop. The authorities 
at Rome (for the Pope was then Napoleon’s prisoner) 
advised Ireland to accept this Veto, and the Irish 
bishops were willing. But O’Connell refused. He 
said this was a political question, and ‘‘ he would as 
soon take his politics from Constantinople as from 
Rome,’’ and the bulk of the Irish clergy supported him 
in demanding complete freedom for their Church. 
In 1795, the College of Maynooth had been founded, 
and an annual grant had been made by the Irish 
Parliament for the training of Irish priests whose 
former colleges on the continent were now closed. 
The clergy trained in Ireland took a much more 
nationalist view than those educated in the traditions 
of royalist France; and they stood with O’Connell. 

Things came to a head in the famine of 1821—22. 
Distress of the land-workers naturally led to crime. 
The tenants who could not pay their rent and saw 
themselves evicted that the land might be let to 
others, combined in the ‘‘Ribbonmen’’ organisation to 
attack either the bailiffs who evicted or the graziers 
who bid for the land. O’Connell was violently against 
these conspiracies, which must operate by murder, and 
he disliked the idea of a class war between tenants 


248 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


and landlords. In 1823, he founded the Catholic 
Association, whose purpose was to get the whole 
government of Ireland into the hands of Irishmen. 

At this stage the Association demanded simply 
that Catholics should have the right to be members of 
parliament, magistrates and members of town 
corporations. All these privileges were confined to 
Protestants. All the laws for Ireland had to be made at 
Westminster; the central government of Ireland was 
carried on by a Lord Lieutenant and a Chief Secre- 
tary, posts for which Irishmen were hardly ever 
chosen. But in all local affairs, the Protestant land- 
lords controlled the country, administered the law, 
and made all appointments. Since they also 
possessed nine-tenths of the land in a country where 
almost everybody must live by farming, they had 
extraordinary power. Yet, though they were an 
** ascendency,’’ a majority of the members returned 
for Ireland were for Emancipation. But the prejudice 
against Catholics in England was violent at this 
period, and the English Parliament refused to hear of 
Emancipation. 

The Catholic Association was the first of the many 
Leagues by which constitutional agitation was carried 
on in Ireland; and it was, perhaps, the most wide- 
spread. Also, because the Catholic Irish had been 
mainly depressed to the level of peasantry, and local 
leaders were needed, O’Connell found them in the 
priests, who began to hold something like the position 
of clan chiefs. A ‘‘ Catholic rent’’ of a penny a 
month was collected in every parish by the clergy, 
and it soon brought in £1,000 a week. All this was 
made over to O’Connell; and it was needed, because 


AFTER THE UNION 249 


from the first, law cases had to be fought and soon 
election expenses ‘also had to be borne. He set him- 
self to make the Catholic tenantry vote according as 
their own leaders directed, and not at the bidding of 
their landlords. In 1826 an election was carried in 
Waterford in favour of a supporter of the Catholic 
claims against a man who was backed by the great 
Beresford interest. Every voter had to face the 
chance of eviction for voting as he thought right. It 
was a moral insurrection against established custom. 

In 1828, O’Connell himself stood for Clare and was 
returned, and, though he could not take his seat, he 
had the right to plead at the bar of the House of 
Commons against the injustice. Huge meetings were 
organised all over Ireland, and the Duke of Wellington, 
then Prime Minister, though opposed to the principle, 
concluded that he must yield or go to war; and, in 
1829, Catholic Emancipation was carried. It was the 
first step in the process by which those whom Lord 
Clare called ‘‘ the old inhabitants of the island ’’ won 
back what Lord Clare called ‘‘ the power and the 
property ’’ of their country. 

It was, in theory, a constitutional victory; no 
violence was used. But everyone knew and saw that 
it was gained by the threat of violence. If England 
had conceded Emancipation to argument, or to the 
plain evidence that the vast majority of the Irish 
people desired it, O’Connell’s position would have 
been much stronger. He was, throughout, opposed 
to the shedding of blood; and during the period when 
the Catholic Association flourished, crimes of violence 
almost ceased. Much was hoped as a result of 
obtaining Emancipation. 


250 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Yet, though O’Connell and others now attained 
to seats in Parliament, their ideas could not prevail 
there. Ireland saw no result; and, in 1831, a fierce 
agitation against tithes began. O’Connell was for 
abolishing tithes and disestablishing the Church with 
fair compensation—as was done forty years later; 
but Parliament treated his proposals with contempt. 
The people resisted seizure of cattle for non-payment, 
troops were called out, and in the next three years 
there were several encounters in which many men were 
killed. The conflict was stopped by a law which 
made the landlords pay all the tithes, and, though 
the rent was raised, payment in this way was not so 
much resented. 

O’Connell, having carried Emancipation, now 
preached everywhere that the true policy was Repeal 
and the re-establishment of the Irish Parliament. 
But English opinion, which had been divided about 
Emancipation, was solidly opposed to Repeal; and, in 
1835, O’Connell decided to ‘‘ give the Union a 
chance,’’ and see what the Whigs, less unfriendly to 
Ireland than the Tories, would do. The only impor- 
tant thing which had been done for Ireland since the 
Union was the establishment of a police in 1814 by 
Sir Robert Peel (after whom they were called 
‘““peelers’’). The Whig Ministry now decided to provide 
free popular education, which was badly needed. But 
everybody in Ireland wanted religious teaching to 
accompany education, and this meant separate schools 
for the different religions. All English Members of 
Parliament sent their own sons to schools planned on 
this principle, but for Ireland they insisted that teach- 
ing must be ‘‘ undenominational ’’—not favouring the 


AFTER THE UNION 251 


religious views of any Church. As a result, the 
whole education of the country was entrusted to a 
Board, composed equally of Catholics and Protes- 
tants, each school having a local manager. Since the 
manager was almost always a clergyman, the schools 
became in practice strictly denominational, and 
religion was everywhere taught in them. But sub- 
jects like history, which could not be properly taught 
without giving a view on controversial matters, 
were kept in the background; and the history of 
Ireland was not taught at all in Irish schools—so that 
the Irish became a people of violent prejudices with- 
out any knowledge of the facts of their own past. 

In general, it may be said that, up to Catholic 
Emancipation, the British Parliament completely 
neglected the needs of Ireland. From 1835 on, it 
made efforts to provide by law for necessities which 
were proved to exist; but it always framed laws 
according to English ideas, disregarding Irish ideas. 
For instance, after the workhouse system had been 
established in England, it was thought necessary to 
provide somehow in Ireland for those who, without 
relief, would starve: and a Committee of Irishmen was 
appointed, which reported that the English system 
was not suited to Ireland, and recommended public 
works, outdoor relief, and hospitals. Yet the English 
Government passed a Bill providing Ireland lavishly 
with workhouses on the English pattern. Results 
proved that Irish advice had been sound, but Ireland 
was encumbered with these costly buildings. 

One thing however was done by this Whig Ministry. 
Appointments were no longer confined to Protestants; 
and in other ways an attempt was made to treat 


252 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Protestants and Catholics as really equal before the 
law. Thomas Drummond, who, as Under-Secretary 
to the Lord Lieutenant was head of the Irish Civil 
Service, fought resolutely for justice. He is best 
remembered by one sentence in a letter addressed to 
the magistrates of Tipperary, about the state of 
the country, where twenty thousand farmers had 
been ejected from their holdings by the land- 
lords. Such measures, he said, led to crime and 
to sympathy with crime. ‘‘ Property has its duties 
as well as its rights,’’ he wrote. The nobleman to 
whom he wrote tried to suppress the letter, thinking it 
would demoralise the public mind. This shows the 
unhealthy temper which had grown up among the 
ruling caste in Ireland. Drummond, unhappily, did 
not live long; he died at his post, and he received a 
great public funeral in Dublin. His statue was set up 
in the City Hall. No other public servant of England 
received such a tribute from Ireland. 

But it was plain to O’Connell that under the Union 
reforms could only be gained very imperfectly, and so 
slowly that the Irish people would not have patience 
with that process, and that the real remedy was 
Repeal. He hoped to get Protestant support for this, 
as he had got it for Emancipation; but the Protestant 
gentry would go no further; and even many of the 
richer Catholics adhered to the Union. The Repeal 
movement was never sectarian by choice or on 
principle, but it was, in practice, a movement of the 
‘* older inhabitants of the island ’’—the Gaelic race, 
which in mass remained Catholic. Yet, the leaders 
for Repeal and Home Rule were chosen without any 
reference to their creed. 


AFTER THE UNION 253 


In 1841, Ireland had over eight millions of people. 
They had increased by at least three millions in forty 
years, and a terrible proportion of these millions lived 
always on the verge of starvation. O’Connell had 
immense numbers behind his movement, and need 
drove them to support any leaders from whom they 
could hope for relief. 

The weakness of Ireland was, however, that Presby- 
terian Ulster, which had created the United Irish 
movement in 1795, was now definitely estranged from 
Catholic Ireland, and had fully accepted the Union. 
Moreover, Ulster, unlike the rest of Ireland, was on 
the way to prosperity of a new kind. 

In the last half of the eighteenth century, factories 
had begun to replace workshops, and steam power was 
used for producing goods in great quantities. Steam 
was applied to the cotton industry, while linen was 
still spun and woven in the cottages; and this cotton 
industry was largely the cause of Belfast’s rise in 
population, which reached about thirty thousand at 
the time of the Union. Yet, after the distress which 
fell on the linen trade, cotton mills also had their 
bad time. Protective duties put on by the Irish 
Parliament were withdrawn, and Manchester under- 
sold Irish firms in Ireland from 1820 onwards. In 
1828, when a Belfast cotton mill was burnt, its 
owners, the Mulhollands, decided to rebuild, with the 
intention of spinning linen thread, instead of cotton 
thread, by machinery. So began the York Street 
Spinning Mills, and the population of Belfast, by 1841, 
had more than doubled. Yet they still had not begun 
_to weave as well as spin by machine power. In 1851, 
the population had reached one hundred thousand. 


254 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Also, from 1840 on, the merchants of Derry had found 
a way to utilise the female labour which was thrown 
out of work when machines replaced the cottage 
spinning-wheel. They began making up linen into 
shirts and collars, and for this they used both factory 
work and cottage industry. The whole of Protestant 
Ulster began to be a country of artisans, as well as 
of farmers. People there had something else besides 
the land to look to. Wages in Ulster were a shilling 
a day, eightpence in Munster, sixpence in Connacht. 
And the Ulster farmers had their tenant right, which 
prevented them from being turned out without pay- 
ment for improvements they had made on the land. 

But the rest of Ireland was in a very terrible con- 
dition, and those parts of Ulster which depended 
solely on the land were poor enough. There were 
probably more people than the land could support 
simply by agriculture, and they were not distributed 
so as to get the best value out of the land. The best 
land was kept for cattle grazing; the second best was 
divided mainly into farms of fair size; but all along 
the coast—north, south, east, and west—people were 
crowded on miserable soil, often farming it without 
having any tools but a spade. 


CHAPTER XXV. 
Young Ireland and the Great Famine. 


By 1840, O’Connell, abandoning the policy of ‘‘giving 
the Union a chance,’’ had founded the Repeal Associ- 
ation, to work definitely for an Irish Parliament; but 
he spent a year in converting Dublin Corporation from 
an Orange stronghold to a Nationalist one. Under 
the new Act which allowed Catholics to belong to such 
bodies, he was elected, and was chosen Lord Mayor. 
On leaving office, he insisted that a Protestant should 
be next chosen, and for forty years the post was 
held by Protestant and Catholic, turn about. Also, 
he moved a resolution in the Corporation declaring 
the right of Ireland to have her own Parliament, and 
there was a debate lasting three days in which the 
opposition was led by an eloquent young barrister, 
Isaac Butt, who afterwards changed his opinions and 
became a Nationalist leader. All this stimulated 
attention; the Repeal Association spread rapidly; and 
a building called ‘‘ Conciliation Hall’’ was put up in 
which its meetings were held. 

“Conciliation ’? meant that O’Connell wanted to 
win the goodwill both of Irish and _ English 
Protestants. 

There were two other important influences at work. 
The first was the temperance mission of Father 
Mathew, a priest from Cork, and a man of extra- 
ordinary saintliness. Millions of people in Ireland 

255 


256 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


took the pledge from him, and kept it. This made 
it possible for O’Connell to assemble, as he did, 
‘“monster meetings’’ in favour of Repeal all over 
Ireland, without the least disorder. It added to the 
moral effect of the movement. 

The other force was the ‘‘ Nation’’ newspaper, 
founded in October, 1842, by Charles Gavan Duffy, a 
young Catholic barrister whose chief associate was 
Thomas Davis, a Protestant from Cork who had 
passed through Trinity. John Blake Dillon, a Catholic 
from Mayo—father of the John Dillon of to-day—and 
others gathered about them: Thomas d’Arcy Magee 
and Thomas Francis Meagher, Catholics; John Mitchel 
and John Martin, nonconformists from County Down. 
All these young men were vehemently in support of 
O’Connell’s Repeal movement, but they were not of 
O’Connell’s generation, and they used different argu- 
ments. Above all, they sought to rally Ireland by 
recalling the national glories of the Gael. They were 
nationalists in sympathy with the revolutionary move- 
ment, which was then prompting Italy and Poland, 
and other subject nationalities all over Europe, to 
break away from the great empires which held them. 
O’Connell was a lover of freedom, but he feared 
revolution; and on one point he was singularly unlike 
the nationalists. He had spoken Irish from his child- 
hood, and Irish was then known by probably three- 
quarters of the poorer people. Yet, in O’Connell’s 
view, 1t was more important that the Irish should 
learn English which might help them to prosperity, 
than that they should preserve an historic speech 
which marked them as a nation; and he discouraged 
the use of Irish. Also, by making English the 


YOUNG IRELAND AND THE GREAT FAMINE 257 


language in which the cause of Ireland was pleaded, 
he made English more popular in Ireland. 

In short, O’Connell was what we should call a 
pacifist and an internationalist. Duffy’s group, who 
were soon called ‘‘ Young Ireland,’’ were fiercely 
nationalist, and delighted to revive memory of 
Ireland’s battles. The ‘‘ Nation’’ published many 
spirited ballads which were universally popular, and a 
collection of them—‘‘ The Spirit of the Nation ’’ 
—circulated hugely. 

The Repeal meetings went on and were not for- 
bidden. One at Tara is said to have drawn together 
half a million people. People walked the roads from 
all over Ireland. Among O’Connell’s converts was 
William Smith O’Brien, member for County Clare. He 
belonged to a branch of the ruling Thomond clan 
which had for generations represented Clare. His 
grandfather, Sir Lucius O’Brien, had been a leading 
person in the Irish Parliament; his father, Sir Edward, 
had voted against the Union. But Smith O’Brien 
himself had entered Parliament in hopes of making 
the Union work satisfactorily. Now, he declared that 
long experience had shown him that the British Parlia- 
ment neither understood Irish needs nor wished to 
meet them. 

The final mass meeting was to be held on Sunday, 
8th October, at Clontarf, the scene of Brian’s victory, 
on the outskirts of Dublin. It may have been 
regarded as a threat to the seat of Government. At 
all events, Government decided to prohibit the 
gathering, but the proclamation was only issued on 
Saturday. Wellington had troops ready; but 
O’Connell decided to avoid the issue; horsemen were 


(D 574) I 


258 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


sent on all roads to turn back the gathering crowds. 
There was no bloodshed, but there was defeat. 
O’Connell had believed, and had led Ireland to 
believe, that the English Government would shrink, as 
they had shrunk in 1820, from the prospect of war. 
But this time, Peel, the Prime Minister, and Welling- 
ton, knew that England as a whole was against setting 
up a second Parliament. 

But the Government then insisted upon prosecuting 
O’Connell and his associates for treason, and in order 
to get a conviction they went back to the practice of 
‘‘ jury packing,’’ which Drummond had stopped. 
Trial by jury means that a man is tried by his 
‘* peers ’’—that is, those of like standing with him- 
self. Catholics were entitled to serve on the jury, 
but the Government lawyers objected to every Catholic, 
and O’Connell was tried before a jury of Protestants 
by a partisan judge. The trial lasted twenty-four days. 
When O’Connell was convicted and sent to jail, Smith 
O’Brien stepped into his place as leader: and an 
appeal was made to the House of Lords. There, to 
the surprise and exultation of Ireland, the verdict was 
reversed. Lord Denman, in giving judgment, said 
that trial by jury so conducted was ‘‘a mockery, a 
delusion, and a snare.’’ O’Connell came out in 
triumph, with much of his fame restored. 

But he had lost the confidence of the younger men. 
Somé of them thought he ought to have held his 
meeting and forced the Government to use force; 
others held that unless he was ready to go through 
with it he ought not to have attempted to overawe 
the Government by the display of huge crowds. 
O’Connell, who was old and had long been supreme, 


YOUNG IRELAND AND THE GREAT FAMINE 259 


resented criticisms. And division arose on a new 
question. Peel’s Government, in this matter honestly 
desiring to do good, saw that many Catholics would 
not go into Trinity College, which was a Protestant 
institution; and they set up what was called the 
Queen’s University, with Colleges in Belfast, Cork, 
and Galway. Again the English idea of refusing to 
endow religious education prevailed, and no chair of 
theology was provided in any of these colleges— 
though the other universities had professors of 
Protestant theology. But it was laid down that such 
professorships might be founded by private gift or by 
a subscription. Young Ireland was for accepting 
these institutions, which were much needed. But a 
cry of ‘‘ Godless colleges ’’ was raised; the Catholic 
hierarchy joined it, and O’Connell, after some hesita- 
tion, did so too. And this made more dissension. 
The colleges were built and endowed; and, though 
the Church discouraged it, many Catholics were 
educated inthem. Yet the majority were kept away, 
and Catholic Ireland remained as a whole deficient 
in higher education. 

The leading spirit in Young Ireland had been 
Thomas Davis, a man of generous and conciliatory 
temper. It was a grievous loss for Ireland when he 
died, quite young, in the end of 1845. The other 
young men had less charity and less wisdom. John 
Mitchel, the ablest among them, and the most forcible 
writer Ireland had produced since Swift, was a man 
of fierce temper and hard to work with. And the 
country was now actually in the grip of famine. 

In 1845, the potato crop failed all over Europe; but 
in Ireland and nowhere else three-quarters of the 


260 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


people had to live on potatoes. English politicians 
at first were disinclined to believe in the reality of 
famine they did not see for themselves. O’Connell 
urged that no food should be exported—and Ireland 
was full of food. But the trouble was that the Irish 
people grew corn but could not buy it; still less could 
they buy meat. In 1846, when a new English Govern- 
ment was returned at a General Election, there was 
prolonged debate between the Young Irelanders and 
O’Connell as to what action should be _ taken. 
O’Connell declared that ‘‘the greatest political 
advantages were not worth one drop of human 
blood,’’ and this led to a famous speech in which 
Thomas Francis Meagher glorified the right of armed 
resistance, and earned his name, ‘‘ Meagher of the 
Sword.”’ 

‘* Be it for the defence, or be it for the assertion 
of a nation’s liberty, I look upon the sword as a 
sacred weapon.”’ 

The end of this quarrel was the Young Irelanders 
seceded, and Smith O’Brien went with them. But the 
clergy as a whole, and the mass of the country sided 
with O’Connell. 

In 1846, the potato crop again failed, this time 
wholly, and by the winter, people were dying in 
thousands. A great meeting of the magistrates and 
gentry was called. O’Connell and Smith O’Brien took 
part in it, but no action could be agreed on; and, in 
the spring of 1847, O’Connell left Ireland on a 
pilgrimage to Rome, sick and broken-hearted. He 
died on the way at Genoa. 

By this time, private charity from England was 
pouring money into Ireland, the Quakers being 


YOUNG IRELAND AND THE GREAT FAMINE 2061 


especially beneficent. But no private charity could 
meet such a strain, and the British Government failed 
deplorably. They passed an Act lowering the duties 
on imported corn; but Ireland grew corn to sell and 
could not buy it—and even so, corn was not brought 
in. At this period, British politicians counted it a 
crime for Government to do anything which could be 
done by private enterprise and private people; and the 
only importation of food which they would attempt 
Was importation of maize or Indian corn, because 
this article had never been used in Ireland. They 
provided relief works also, but here the same insane 
policy prevailed. Nothing must be done which could 
interfere with private enterprise. A great English- 
man wanted them to use this mass of labour to con- 
struct railways; but that was interference with 
private enterprise, and men were set to digging holes 
and filling them up again. Worse still, no man who 
had a farm was allowed to get relief work unless he 
gave up his holding. And while famine raged, 
eviction was going on. The miserable tenants were 
forced out, and their holdings thrown into large farms. 
Troops and police were employed to put out people 
whom a national calamity had deprived of all means 
to pay. 

This is one of the things which no native govern- 
ment would ever have done. No English Government 
would have dealt so with famine in England. Yet 
this has to be said. No native government could 
have prevented famine from following on a loss of the 
potato crop. The worst failure of government lay in 
allowing such a state of society to grow up as existed 


in 1845. 


262 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


The potato blight lasted for five years in succession 
from 1845. In 1841, the population was 8,175,000; 
it was increasing by one hundred thousand a year up 
to 1845. In 1851, it was down to 6,500,000. More 
than half of this loss was due to such an emigration 
as had never been seen. Ireland was totally changed 
in less than five years. From a country of rapidly 
increasing population, it became one of diminishing 
numbers. Every census till 1911 showed a decline. 
Also, the loss by death and emigration fell on the 
Gaelic speakers. Of the two millions that dis- 
appeared, it is safe to say that at least nine-tenths 
spoke Irish. From that time forward, all of the 
poorer Irish peasantry looked to America as a land 
of promise. The priests, who were the best educated 
people among them, directed education so that they 
might be the better fit to go to America, and there 
was soon a new Ireland overseas. But Ireland ceased 
to be Irish-speaking. 

In the meantime, the leading men of Ireland had 
quarrelled among themselves. O’Connell’s following 
were bitterly opposed to the Young Irelanders. Then, 
in 1848, came a year of revolution throughout Europe. 
The Young Irelanders were swept into the movement. 
It was a time when everything seemed possible, and 
preparations for a rising were made. Government 
got information; Mitchel was taken and sentenced to 
twenty years’ penal servitude; Duffy and others were 
arrested. Finally, Smith O’Brien called on the south 
to rise, but the rebellion ended in a petty skirmish 
at Ballingarry. Meagher and O’Brien were. sentenced 
to death, but the sentence was changed to transpor- 
tation. The whole had failed ignominiously. 


YOUNG IRELAND AND THE GREAT FAMINE 263 


Yet the Irish people showed for the first time the 
temper which had been bred in them by the writers 
of the ‘‘ Nation.’’ They refused to regard failure as 
disgraceful, and made heroes of the men who had 
risked their lives for an ideal of freedom. 

There is no doubt as to the high standard of 
ability and character which prevailed among the 
Young Irelanders. Mitchel, who alone among them had 
a bitter hostility to England, wrote his best known 
work, the ‘‘ Jail Journal,’’ in captivity. He escaped 
from Tasmania, and made his way to America. 
Meagher did the same. In the American Civil War, 
Mitchel and his sons fought gallantly for the South; 
Meagher distinguished himself greatly on the side of 
the north. On the other hand, Duffy in Australia and 
McGee in Canada were among those who did most 
to establish and strengthen the Parliaments of what 
are now the two greatest Dominions. 

But Ireland, in paying homage to these men, and 
keeping alive the memory of their actions and their 
writings, did not lessen its devotion to O’Connell, who 
had first taught the mass of the older race and 
religion to feel and act like free men. They gave to 
him still the title of ‘‘ The Liberator,’’ and it was 
deserved. Even in the darkest hours after 1848, 
Ireland recognised itself and was recognised through- 
out Europe as one of the oldest European nations, and 
as a nation struggling to be free. 

Among those who came after them, the influence 
of the Young Irelanders was probably greater than 
that of O’Connell, for an orator’s gift dies with him, 
while their writings were everywhere known by heart. 
Their influence was, on the whole, in favour of that 


ae 


204 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


section of Irish opinion which looked to physical force 
as the true means of redress. But from 1848 
onwards, the two streams continued to run together 
through the life of Ireland, and sometimes the 
constitutionalists—O’Connell’s successors—had the 
upper hand, sometimes the party of physical force. 
New methods developed in the struggle of a small 
disarmed nation to gain its will against a great 
European power; and there was always conflict 
between the two schools of thought. But it may be 
said that nothing was ever achieved by physical force 
alone; nor did constitutional methods and argument 
ever accomplish anything unless violence was used 
also. The worst evil of rule through the British 
Parliament was that Ireland learnt to despair of an 
appeal to justice. Argument could convince part of 
the English people; but nothing would be done by 
Parliament merely because Ireland considered it 
necessary. Much, however, was done for Ireland by 
Parliament as a means of allaying criminal violence; 
and consequently violence ceased to be regarded as 
criminal, if it could be regarded as a means to get 
justice. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


From the Famine to Parnell. 


THE famine altered the whole shape of the Irish 
problem. Starvation, and the diseases produced by 
starvation, had killed off about a million of the Irish 
poor. Seven millions and a half of Irish people 
remained by 1851, but a million of these had gone 
abroad; close on another million followed in the next 
ten years. This displacement of people was unlike 
anything that had ever happened before in Ireland. 

In the eighteenth century there was great emigra- 
tion, of two kinds. The Protestants, chiefly from 
Ulster, left the country in great numbers, and for the 
most part became Americans. But these were, com- 
paratively speaking, new settlers in Ireland; their 
fathers and grandfathers or great-grandfathers had 
come there, and either because their religion put them 
at a disadvantage, or because commercial restrictions 
interfered with their trade, or because a harsh land 
system oppressed them, they went to find another 
country elsewhere. In becoming Americans, they 
ceased to be Irish. 

The other emigration was that of the Catholic 
gentry, who went to seek a land where their religion 
would not disqualify them. They took, no doubt, 
also many of the more adventurous men among the 
peasantry, who were soldiers by inclination. These 
people remembered that they were Irish, but a great 

* 265 


266 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


part of them fell in war, and others simply became 
French, Spanish, or Austrian. They were lost to 
Ireland. In an Irish State, they would naturally have 
been the professional men, soldiers, doctors, or 
lawyers; they took their brains abroad. But the mass 
of the Irish people who lived by working the land 
remained where they were, being driven deeper and 
deeper into poverty, out of which they could only rise 
by forsaking their religion; and they multiplied till the 
famine came. 

Then began the emigration of that stratum in 
Ireland on which the whole rested—the people nearest 
to the land. There were descendants of the settlers 
among them; there were the Gaels; but there were 
also the descendants of those peoples who had been 
there before the Gaels came. What was oldest and 
most primitive in Ireland was now displaced, and it 
could not be completely torn away. The millions who 
emigrated during the famine and after it went to 
America and Canada and Australia, but mostly to 
America; and in becoming Americans they remained 
Irish. There was an Ireland in America, an Ireland 
in Australia and in Canada—an Ireland even in Great 
Britain, for great masses poured across into the 
manufacturing districts. These people never lost the 
sense that they and theirs were being driven out, and 
they hated England. But they hated also the Irish 
landlord class who owned the country. Ireland was 
divided by class hatred. 

The landlord class as a whole was demoralised by 
the Union. Before it, they made laws for the country, 
and the best of them thought hard and worked hard 
for the interests of the country. In 1800, as a class, 


FROM THE FAMINE TO PARNELL 267 


they consented to the Union to ensure their property; 
and, for that, they gave away the duty of law-making 
to the English Parliament. They kept in Ireland all 
the privileges of their position, but they had aban- 
doned a great deal of the power for good by which 
they could earn those privileges. There were, indeed, 
many good landlords, but the standard was not high. 
A large proportion prided themselves on being owners 
of property, and did nothing to justify that pride. 
They had a monopoly of the land by which the workers 
must live, and the temptation to charge too much for 
the use of it was too strong. Getting money and 
doing nothing for it, they became improvident as a 
class; they were plunged in debt, and when the famine 
years came and no rent could be paid, a great propor- 
tion of the old landlords were swept away. 

Some of them did magnificent work in that crisis. 
George Henry Moore, in County Mayo—till then only 
known as a great horseman—won £10,000 in 1845 
riding a horse he had bred. The whole was spent in 
keeping his people alive, and he saved thousands of 
tenants down about Tourmakeady. Lord George 
Hill, an ex-guardsman, had bought a great tract of 
the poorest country in Donegal with the hope to 
improve it, and he, too, warded off death from the 
people of Gweedore. In Connemara, Richard Martin 
—‘‘Humanity Dick,’’ the famous duellist who founded 
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 
spent himself and all his substance, and died bank- 
rupt in the struggle. Father Mathew in Cork came 
to his relations, well-to-do men. ‘‘ We can keep 
nothing for ourselves,’’ he said, ‘‘ when people are 
dying of hunger about us ’’—-and they gave all their 


268 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


property and began the world again. And there were 
many other like cases. But these instances were 
forgotten in face of the fact that evictions and 
clearances were pressed on in time of famine. Great 
estates. were bought by land speculators, and they too 
often thought of nothing but to get rid of the 
families that could be of no service to them. Above 
all, it was impossible for the Irish not to feel, in spite 
of all the charity which Englishmen and English- 
women had shown, that England was glad to see the 
Catholic Irish leaving their country. The idea that 
things must be wholly wrong when an Irishman’s best 
hope must lie in emigration never entered the minds 
of English statesmen. It was accepted as natural by 
too many Irish landlords; and they were too easily 
content to let things settle down again after the 
clearance by famine and by emigration had done its 
work. The worst of the misery was cleared away, 
they thought, leaving the rights of property secure. 

There was no doubt at all that the mass of the Irish 
people at home and abroad were hostile to the rights 
of property, so long as these left a small class in 
Ireland possessed of a monopoly of the land. The 
second half of the nineteenth century was spent in a 
struggle to destroy this monopoly. 

To a certain extent, the feeling of Catholic Ireland 
in this matter was shared by Protestant Ulster; for 
even in the manufacturing province, agriculture was 
by far the biggest industry. Ulster farmers were to 
some degree protected by the Ulster custom. If a 
tenant. were forced to leave his holding, he could 
claim compensation for his improvements. But 
Ulstermen also wanted to limit monopoly, and to have 


FROM THE FAMINE TO PARNELL 269 


courts appointed which would fix the Fair Rent that 
a landlord might charge. While this rent was paid, 
the tenant should not be put out; he would have 
Fixity of Tenure. And if he chose to go, he might 
freely sell the right to take up his lease. Fair Rent, 
Fixity of Tenure, and Free Sale were the Three F’s 
for which Irish tenants contended in a long agitation. 
A great Ulster landlord, Sharman Crawford, advo- 
cated the grant of them all over Ireland, and many 
Land Bills were proposed in Parliament by members 
of the Constitutional Party. This party got a good 
deal of support after the failure of rebellion in 1848. 
But when its numbers in Parliament gave it strength, 
individual men were induced to desert by the offer of 
office; and one notorious case brought constitutional 
action into disrepute—all the more as it was coun- 
tenanced by Cardinal Cullen, then the most powerful 
Catholic in Ireland. 

Certain men who had been in the physical force 
movement during 1848, were not discouraged by its 
failure; and James Stephens with John O’Mahony 
began to plan a new secret society called the Irish 
Republican Brotherhood, or Fenian Society. In 1858, 
James Stephens and Thomas Luby, supported by 
John O’Leary, began to swear in men in Ireland. Its 
purpose was to ‘‘ defend the Irish Republic, now 
virtually established.’” Smith O’Brien and others of 
the 1848 leaders advised against secret conspiracy; 
but Fenianism spread—chiefly among artisans and 
shop assistants. It was not directly part of the 
agrarian movement, and did not appeal to tenants 
as such. 

Nothing happened, however, for several years, till 


270 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


the close of the American Civil War set free many 
Irishmen who had become trained soldiers, and these 
joined the movement. There were arrests and prose- 
cutions. John O’Leary was sentenced to twenty 
years’ imprisonment, and in the spring of 1867 there 
was a rising which scarcely even produced a skirmish. 
The Fenians were denounced fiercely by the clergy as 
a whole; but they had revived the spirit created by 
the Young Irelanders. The most important happen- 
ings were in England. One of their American Irish 
leadershad beenarrested and was being taken to trial 
in Manchester, when a rescue party attacked the prison 
van, and released the prisoner but killed a police 
sergeant. Several of the rescuers were captured, and 
five were sentenced to death. One was shown to have 
been wrongly sentenced, and another, O’Meagher 
Condon, a distinguished American soldier, was spared 
on protests from the American Government. But 
three were hanged—Allen, Larkin, and O’Brien; and 
these became known as the Manchester Martyrs. 
Later in the year, an attempt was made to blow in 
the wall of Clerkenwell prison in London, to get out 
a Fenian, and the explosion killed several persons. 
These events disturbed England. But far more 
important was the fact that the American Irish could 
produce grave trouble between England and America. 
Through America Ireland was now becoming an 
international force. The Irish nation was no longer 
confined to one island, which England could control; 
and America was now a stronghold of Irish re- 
volution. 

In the eighteenth century, France, England’s 
opponent, had gained much military strength from 


FROM THE FAMINE TO PARNELL 271 


Ireland: but the Irish element in France had never 
been strong enough to affect French policy, and from 
the Revolution onwards France had less to gain from 
Ireland. In 1848 the Young Ireland leaders went to 
the Directory of the newly-founded Second Republic 
for help: they got only sympathy. The example of 
revolution in France, and in Europe at large, had 
spread like a contagion to Ireland: but revolutionary 
Ireland found no helper in Europe. Already, however, 
revolutionary Ireland was making a source of strength 
for itself in America. Irish politicians could begin 
to have a foreign policy, striking at Britain through 
America: and America tended to be traditionally on 
the side of Ireland as against England. 

An indirect result was to favour in Ireland the 
spread of the language used by Americans, and to 
discourage Gaelic. O’Donovan Rossa, one of the 
chief Fenian leaders, was an ardent Gaelic student; 
but the Fenian movement as a whole helped to spread 
English, as did O’Connell’s movement, and Parnell’s. 

In 1868, an English General Election put Liberals in 
power, and Mr. Gladstone became Prime Minister. 
He openly declared that these Fenian attempts had 
aroused the mind of England. Something must be 
done for Ireland. He carried two measures of impor- 
tance, one of which disestablished the Irish Church. 
Out of fifteen millions of Church property, something 
over four millions were reserved for national purposes. 
The balance was applied to endow the Church of 
Ireland, which now became self-governing, and, but 
for this endowment, self-supporting. It retained also 
all the parish churches and cathedrals. Ruined eccle- 
siastical buildings became national monuments. This 


272 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


measure was greatly resented by the Protestants of 
the Irish Church; but it was, naturally, welcome to 
the Presbyterians and other nonconformists, as well 
as to the Catholics. It removed something of 
Ireland’s sense of injustice, though it conferred no 
great benefit on the Irish people. But the disestab- 
lished Church became more democratic, and its 
revenues were much more equally divided; there was 
no longer a great inequality between very rich 
dignitaries and very poor curates. 

The other measure of Mr. Gladstone was a Land 
Act which sought to extend the Ulster custom and 
limit the power of the landlord; but it did not effect 
much. Unfortunately, the chief result of both these 
Acts was to fix in the mind of Ireland the belief that 
it was no use to argue with the British Parliament, 
unless argument were accompanied by violence. 

Yet, from this time forward, Parliament’s attention 
was frequently given to Ireland. Mr. Gladstone, 
John Bright, and others helped to make England 
realise that Ireland had needs which must be attended 
to. Also, in Ireland there was a new leader of the 
Constitutional Party, Isaac Butt, whose conversion to 
the Nationalist cause had been completed by his 
experience as advocate for the Fenian prisoners. 
He proposed in place of Repeal a new policy, which 
he called Home Rule. By this he meant that Ireland 
should manage her own local affairs through an Irish 
Parliament, but that questions affecting the whole 
empire, such as succession to the throne, the making 
of treaties of war and peace, or the maintenance of an 
army and navy, should all be left to the Imperial 
Parliament. He was influenced by the growth of 


FROM THE FAMINE TO PARNELL 273 


Parliamentary Government in Canada and the other 
colonies, as they were still called. At another 
election, in 1874, so many Home Rulers were returned 
in Ireland that they had a majority of the Irish 
members. In 1876 a young Irish landlord, Charles 
Stewart Parnell, became member for Meath. He soon 
joined a North of Ireland Protestant, Joseph Bigger, 
in a policy of deliberately obstructing business in the 
House of Commons, which made Parliament and 
Englishmen in general very angry—and this pleased 
Ireland. This plan of preventing English legislation 
from being carried unless Irish affairs were attended 
to was a more effective way of calling attention than 
crimes of violence. But it would not by itself have 
made a revolution. 

Little had been done to improve the state of 
affairs in Ireland since the famine; and although the 
population kept on steadily lessening, there was still 
so much competition for land that the owners of it 
could force the tenants to pay far too much. Also, 
tenants as a whole had learnt to believe that if they 
improved the appearance of their houses, or the state 
of the farms, or lived more comfortably, rent would be 
raised because they would be thought able to pay 
more. The land system created a widespread feeling 
of injustice and insecurity. 

The only really important change that took place in 
Ireland between the famine and the beginning of the 
land revolution was in Ulster. Here industrial pros- 
perity made vast strides. Between 1851 to 1881 
the population of Belfast doubled; it rose to over two 
hundred thousand. Spinning and weaving linen was 
still the main trade of the city, and the best inven- 


274 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


tions of modern machinery were used with great 
skill. What Belfast produced was the best in the 
world. Yet this industry, which had begun in times 
of adversity, employed a great proportion of female 
labour and paid, on the whole, low wages. Side by 
side with it grew up a wholly new form of employ- 
ment, entirely man’s work, and work of the highest 
class. 

In 1846, when the city had already become great, 
the need for a better port was felt, and the Harbour 
Board decided to cut a straight channel instead of 
the winding course of the Lagan. Much slobland 
was reclaimed and made solid ground, and it was pro- 
posed to establish a shipyard on this new tract, which 
was called the Queen’s Island. After a failure, one of 
the men employed, Edward Harland, took over the 
business in 1862, and his chief draughtsman, Wolff, 
became his partner. They had nothing in their 
favour. Coal and iron were found quite near the 
great shipbuilding works on the Tyne and the Clyde; 
to Belfast they must be imported. Even the harbour 
had little depth, and must be dug out and constantly 
cleared. But they won by sheer brains. They paid 
well for Irish labour, and it proved very efficient. By 
1880, Harland & Wolff were already building great 
liners, each of which was a work of the finest naval 
architecture. All this increased greatly the self- 
confidence of Protestant Ulster, and, unfortunately, 
increased also Ulster’s contempt for Catholic Ireland. 
Outside of Ulster, no great industry grew except the 
brewing in Dublin. 

The truth is that the rest of Ireland was engaged in 
a revolutionary struggle against what appeared hope- 


FROM THE FAMINE TO PARNELL 275 


less odds, and economic development could not be 
expected. There were now under five million people, 
of whom more than a million Protestants sided with 
England; and they desired to get back the right to 
manage their own affairs, which England was deter- 
mined not to grant. They desired, also, the right to 
keep without disturbance the land which they culti- 
vated; and the land was held by a minority who were 
regarded and who regarded themselves as England’s 
garrison. The struggle really began in 1870, and it 
took forty-two years to complete the revolution. 

In self-governing countries, a revolution, if it suc- 
ceeds, is accomplished within a brief space of time— 
a few months, or two or three years. In Ireland, it was 
accomplished bit by bit; and revolution distracts and 
demoralises a people. Indeed, it may be fairly said 
that the Irish revolution dates back to O’Connell’s 
movement, when even the right of ordinary citizen- 
ship had still to be won for Catholics. It is not 
surprising that Catholic Ireland in this time should 
have accomplished little else than a great political 
change. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 
The Land War. 


IN the clearances after the famine, a family called 
Davitt were evicted from their holding at Straid, in 
County Mayo, and they migrated to Lancashire. 
Their son, Michael Davitt, became a factory hand, 
and while a boy lost his arm, caught in some 
machinery. But he was active in the Fenian move- 
ment, and was finally arrested and sentenced to 
fifteen years penal servitude. He served eight years 
and came out on ticket-of-leave, determined to create 
an alliance between the working people of Ireland 
and those of England. No Irishman ever was less 
moved by hatred of the English. 

He had learnt trade union methods in England, and 
his purpose was really to make all Irish tenants of 
land into a vast trade union which should combine, 
not to raise wages, but to lower rent. Yet the things 
are the same. In Ireland the demand for farms was 
so great that tenants were ready to pay a sum for the 
use of land which left them barely enough to live on. 
They had to work at a starvation wage. 

The idea was taken up in America by John Devoy, 
who advocated this as a new policy instead of the 
attempt to overthrow English rule and landlord power 
by force. But it had been preached much earlier, in 
the ‘‘ Nation,’’ before 1848, by Fintan Lalor. Lalor 
argued that the peasants would not be sufficiently 

276 


THE LAND WAR 277 


interested in Repeal of the Union to fight for it, but 
would fight for ownership of the land. ‘‘ My object,’’ 
he said, ‘‘ is to repeal the Conquest.’’ A struggle for 
the land would carry self-government with it, he held, 
as a railway engine drags the carriages. 

Davitt and Devoy in reality took up Lalor’s idea, 
and their opportunity came in 1879. During the 
Crimean War, and later during the Franco-Prussian 
War, demand for foodstuffs kept farming prosperous; 
but from 1875 onwards there was depression, and in 
1879 it was near to famine. In April, 1879, a meet- 
ing was held at Irishtown in County Mayo, which 
proposed a league of the peasantry to secure better 
conditions for tenants. Parnell adopted the new 
policy, and from the first laid down what he meant. 
He was a landlord himself, and did not want the land- 
lords ruined. He proposed that they should be 
bought out, and the country made into one of peasant 
proprietors like Belgium or France. This, however, 
was entirely contrary to English ideas, for England 
had done away with its peasant farmers; and only by 
slow and costly degrees did England come to accept 
Parnell’s proposal. 

In the autumn of 1879, the Land League was 
founded. Parnell was chosen its president, and went 
to America to seek support from Ireland overseas. 
Without the backing given by the scattered Irish in 
America, in Australia, and in Great Britain, the Irish 
Revolution would never have been accomplished. 
Those who said in 1848, ‘‘ the Celts are going with a 
vengeance,’’ did not understand what would come 
of it. 

In America, through Davitt’s influence, Parnell 


278 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


succeeded in persuading a great part of the Fenians 
to join with the ‘‘ new departure,’’ which was to com- 
bine pressure in Parliament with pressure through a 
continued refusal of tenants to pay rent. 

In 1880, after a General Election, Mr. Gladstone 
again came into power. He was the chief leader and 
inspirer of that great body of Englishmen who, from 
1868, realised that Ireland suffered from injustices 
which needed to be redressed. But, like the rest, he 
thought himself a better judge than the Irish of the 
means to redress them. What Ireland owes to him 
is that he created in England a real desire to do 
justice and to remedy an evil past. 

The Irish landlords as a class resented bitterly an 
attempt to dictate to them what rent should be paid; 
it was an interference with the rights of property. 
When the tenants said, ‘‘ Unless you accept a re- 
duced rent, none of us will pay any,’’ the landlords 
considered this an illegal conspiracy, and they fought 
it by evictions. The new answer of the tenants was 
the ‘‘ boycott,’’ so called because it was employed 
against a Captain Boycott, near Lough Mask. The 
whole neighbourhood refused to have any dealings 
with the boycotted man. When the struggle was 
pushed fiercely, it meant that nobody would lend a 
hand even to bury the dead. The boycott was 
directed, not only against the landlord, but against 
any tenant who took land from which another had 
been evicted, or who rendered any service to a boy- 
cotted man. It was horrible, but less atrocious than 
the murders and mutilations which were committed 

the Whiteboys, the Ribbonmen, and other secret 
societies. Unhappily, in many cases, outrages of this 


THE LAND WAR 270 


sort were added. Yet the Land League was feared 
chiefly because of its power to inflict ruin by refusal 
of rent, and misery by the boycott. The Liberal 
Government introduced a Bill authorising them to put 
suspected persons in jail without trial; but because of 
the Parliamentary obstruction, all these things had to 
be discussed at very great length, and the business of 
Parliament could not go on. Everybody in England 
was forced to think about Ireland. Meantime, in 
Ireland itself, the landlords, who had been the ruling 
class, were in dreadful straits for money because of 
the organised stoppage of rent, while the resistance 
in Parliament itself carried the driving stroke of this 
great organisation right to the very heart of 
England’s power. Then, at the moment when steps 
were being taken to punish all Irish agitators, Mr. 
Gladstone introduced a Bill giving the thing for which 
they agitated. 

The Land Act of 1881 introduced the principle of 
Courts to fix rents. While a man paid what the 
Court settled, no one could put him out, or ask him 
for increased payments. All the bargains that had 
been made were thus reviewed and altered. On the 
average, rents all over Ireland were reduced by four 
shillings in the pound; in many cases they were 
reduced by six or seven. It was part of the plan 
that every fifteen years the rent should be again 
revised; and when the second term rents were fixed, 
they were again reduced by about the same amount. 
In short, Irish landlords had been getting far too 
large a share of the produce of the land, and they 
were deprived of the excess. But they lost power as 
wellas money. The tenant now, if he chose to leave, 


280 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


could sell to another his right to hold it at the fixed 
rent. There was a dual ownership of the land, and 
the old inhabitants of the island, in securing the 
tenant right, had got back much of what was taken 
away from their forefathers in Cromwell’s day or even 
earlier. 

But meanwhile Parnell and most of his colleagues 
were in jail. The leader had gathered about him a 
band of young men who served his policy with great 
devotion and ability; and he had also laid down a very 
strict discipline for his party in Parliament, which 
each man pledged himself to observe. There was also 
an understanding that no man while a member for an 
Irish constituency should accept any paid post from 
Government. This prevented the Party from being 
broken by bribes; and in nearly forty years several 
hundreds, mostly poor men, passed through its ranks 
and the pledge was never violated. There were no 
deserters. These men and their leader had, in the 
period of the land war, great influence, and the effect 
of seeing them imprisoned created fury. Crime 
spread. Then at last it was decided to release all 
the ‘‘ suspects.’’ Parnell came out in triumph, and 
it looked as if the period of anarchy would cease. But 
in the meantime the few who still believed in old 
methods of physical force had spread a conspiracy. 
Lord Frederick Cavendish, the new Chief Secretary, 
came over to Dublin to begin a more conciliatory rule 
in place of Mr. Forster, who had been the great 
advocate of coercion. He was met by the Under- 
Secretary, Mr. Burke, and the two walked out 
through the Phoenix Park. They were attacked by a 
gang who stabbed both to death—not even knowing 


THE LAND WAR 281 


who Lord Frederick was: their purpose was to kill 
Mr. Burke. This deed ought to be remembered 
for more reasons than one. Parnell’s purpose 
was to teach the Irish people to act together 
in combination by methods which could be defended 
before a civilised tribunal, and this murder seemed 
so mortal a blow to his policy that he proposed re- 
signing; and though he went on, he went on under 
great difficulties. His task was to make England feel 
that certain injustices must be remedied, and could 
not be maintained without inconvenience. In the 
last resort he depended on forcing unwilling people 
to listen to argument. But every murder, and this 
was only the most conspicuous of many, created 
arguments in reply to him. 

The other reason for remembering the Phoenix 
Park murders, is that Ireland, which can with justice 
cast many reproaches against England, ought not to 
forget that Parnell’s success came through the sense 
of justice and honour which the best English people 
possess; and the example given by Lady Frederick 
Cavendish should never be forgotten in Insh history. 
‘You did right to send him to Ireland,’’ were her 
first words to Mr. Gladstone when she saw him next: 
and to another colleague of Lord Frederick’s she 
wrote that ‘‘ she could give up even him, if his death 
were to work good to his fellowmen, which had been 
the whole object of his life.’’ 

In the days of Elizabeth, in the days of Cromwell, 
and in the period of the Penal Laws, Ireland could 
not stir the English to any feeling of justice or com- 
passion. Grattan first, O’Connell more effectively 
after him, made the appeal to justice, and both 


282 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


accomplished something. Parnell, with a fierce and 
hard determination, used every means to coerce 
England into attention; but the whole of his policy 
depended on being able to prove openly that his 
demand was just; and he reckoned throughout on 
being supported by that element in English life which 
Lady Frederick Cavendish and her husband showed 
at its best. 

There was, however, so much savage violence in 
the years which followed 1882, between eviction on 
the one side and outrage on the other, that many in 
England, including Mr. Gladstone, believed that 
Parnell’s demands were only agreed to by most of the 
Irish people through fear. In 1885 came another 
election, when the right to vote was much more 
widely extended than ever before. The result was 
that the whole of Ireland outside of Ulster with 
nearly half of Ulster declared for Home Rule by such 
majorities that in most counties no supporter of the 
Union ever stood again. Mr. Gladstone took the view 
that if a nation demanded the repeal of an Act of 
Parliament with such force, that Act must be 
repealed; and he set himself to undo the Union. 
But he was not at first able to carry his Party with 
him. Some of the men, such as John Bright, who 
haddonemost to convince England that justice should 
be done to Ireland, refused to think this change just. 
The Home Rule Bill was defeated in the House of 
Commons in 1886; and, at a General Election, the 
Unionists (as they now began to be called) came in. 
Yet Parnell’s position increased in strength. He was 
recognised everywhere as one of the great figures in 
Europe, and the failure of an attempt to destroy him 


THE LAND WAR 283 


heightened his fame. The ‘‘ Times’’ newspaper 
published in facsimile a letter bearing his signature 
which showed him as approving murder. There was a 
great trial, and the needy Irish journalist from whom 
the letter had been bought broke down under the 
cross-examination of a great Irish lawyer, Sir Charles 
Russell, and admitted that it was a forgery. Bye- 
elections showed that England was coming round to 
Parnell’s side when suddenly an action for divorce 
was brought against him, and he offered no defence. 
Undoubtedly an English politician in the same case 
would have been expected to resign his seat; but 
Parnell did not resign. Then Mr. Gladstone sent a 
message to say that either he or Parnell must retire. 
He believed that those whom he counted on to support 
him would not do so if he appeared to tolerate the 
conduct which Parnell admitted. There was now 
—for the first time—division in the Irish Party. They 
had to choose between two men who seemed of equal 
importance to the cause. A majority of the Party 
were for Parnell’s resignation; the rest seceded; and 
in 1891 Parnell died. Even before that, several 
elections had shown that Ireland agreed with the 
majority. But during the dissension, Irishmen whom 
the country had almost worshipped were seen heaping 
every insult on each other, and this inevitably 
weakened the constitutional movement. In 1892, Mr. 
Gladstone was again returned to power, but with a 
very small majority. Yet a Bill to give Ireland self- 
government was carried after immense labour through 
the House of Commons; it was at once rejected by 
the Lords. Ireland’s only spokesmen there were 
great landlords who detested the land revolution. 


284 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Mr. Gladstone, very old, retired from public life, and 
the Unionists came in. Yet they also realised that 
more care and thought must be spent on Ireland than 
in the past. One thing which helped was the Report 
of an English Commission on the Financial Relations 
which found that Ireland had, since the Union, been 
heavily overtaxed, and that the total amount of over- 
taxation represented no less than three hundred 
millions. 

The truth was that Ireland had never paid any tax 
not imposed on England, and had never paid abso- 
lutely all the English taxes. For half the century, 
Ireland had paid a good deal less than the English 
taxes. But Ireland, being a poor country, had been 
taxed at the rates suitable to a rich country, and had 
consequently been over-taxed; also, nearly two- 
thirds of the total taxation had been spent outside of 
Ireland. It had gone to pay for the army and navy 
which protected English commerce; but Ireland had 
little commerce to protect. It had gone to pay for 
ships of war, big guns, and the like, whose manufac- 
ture employed English, not Irish labour. All Irish 
members of all parties agreed in demanding restitu- 
tion from England. 

This was the only thing on which they all agreed. 
Home Rule had made a sharp division between 
Protestant and Catholic. There were, indeed, 
Protestant Home Rulers, such as Parnell himself and 
several of his colleagues; and there were well-known 
Catholic Unionists among landlords and professional 
men. But, broadly, Protestant Ireland was for the 
Union, and Catholic Ireland for Home Rule. Disestab- 
lishment had pleased the Presbyterians; Land Acts 


THE LAND WAR 285 


had pleased the Ulster farmers; but all these people 
voted against Home Rule, and, in 1892, there were 
violent riots in Belfast, and resistance to it by force 
was threatened. At this time, however, the opposi- 
tion to Home Rule was headed by the Irish landlords, 
not by the Belfast manufacturers. 

At this time, also, Unionists generally believed that 
Home Rule could be ‘‘ killed by kindness.’’ A good 
deal more money was spent on Ireland. The 
Congested Districts Board was founded to improve 
conditions in the poorer regions of the west; it was a 
body of Irishmen, several of them Catholics and even 
ecclesiastics, and was in that way an instalment of 
Home Rule. Then a Department of Agriculture and 
Technical Education was founded, having at its head 
Sir Horace Plunkett, who had done much to promote 
co-operation among Irish farmers; and it also spent 
more money in Ireland, and created an Irish Ministry 
feeeariament, heldby an Irishman: | The. Chief 
Secretary had been almost invariably English or Scot- 
tish. Lastly, in 1898, came a real step to self- 
government. County Councils and District Councils 
freely elected were set up. 

This completely destroyed whatever power was left 
to the landlord class. From the Land Act on, they 
had lost the means of control by the threat of eviction 
or of raising rent which was their chief weapon. But, 
till 1898, as members of the Grand Jury and as magis- 
trates, they managed all county business, appointed 
all local doctors, and generally had the country in 
their hands. Now, they had less power than the local 
shopkeeper who, if he were a leading Nationalist, was 
promptly elected in preference to them. 


286 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


This made easier the last step in the Land 
Revolution. Under the Conservative Government, the 
Irish Chancellor, Lord Ashbourne, had tried a partial 
experiment with Parnell’s policy of Land Purchase. 
It had succeeded. Another Purchase Bill was intro- 
duced. After 1900, there were so many farmers in 
Ireland paying instalments of purchase money instead 
of rent, that their neighbours clamoured to be put on 
the same footing. At last a Land Conference was 
organised by an energetic young Galway squire, John 
Shawe Taylor; and four great landlords—Lord Dun- 
raven, Lord Mayo, Sir Hutcheson Poé and Sir Nugent 
Everard—met in conference three leading Nationalists 
with a representative of the Ulster tenants. They 
recommended a general scheme of State-aided Land 
Purchase. The Chief Secretary, Mr. Wyndham, took it 
up, and was assisted by an Irish Catholic, Sir Antony 
MacDonnell, who had been a great administrator 
in the Indian Civil Service. In 1903 was carried the 
Wyndham Land Purchase Act, which proposed to 
transfer all the land of Ireland from the landlords to 
the tenants. The tenants were to undertake to pay 
for sixty-eight years instalments less than their rents; 
the landlords were to take something less than their 
full income, and were to receive also a bonus paid by 
the State. It was estimated that twelve millions of 
grant from the State would pay the bonus on all sales. 
This was a miscalculation, but the scheme proved 
extraordinarily good for Ireland. Already farming 
had improved, because men felt that they would get 
value for the improvements they made; but when the 


land became their own absolutely, progress was very 
rapid, 


THE LAND WAR 287 


Within twenty-five years from the start of the Land 
League, the Irish people had become once more 
owners of the soil of Ireland. The Conquest had 
been repealed. 

This was the first stage in the Irish Revolution. On 
the whole, even those who opposed the land revolution 
recognise now that the new order is better than the 
old. But no revolution is made without loss, and 
Ireland, which lost its Gaelic aristocracy in the eight- 
eenth century has largely lost in our own time the 
Protestant gentry who replaced them as a ruling class. 
What might have been reform was changed into 
revolution by too obdurate resistance. Many innocent 
people suffered, as happens in all revolutions; many 
good men were losers because of the folly and wicked- 
ness of others, probably not so numerous as they. 
But the land system gave many opportunities for 
wrong-doing, and it divided the country too deeply. 
The Irish landlord class as a whole scarcely thought 
of the tenants as really their fellow-countrymen; they 
spoke of ‘‘ we’’ and ‘‘ they,’’ and from the time of 
the Union onward their whole loyalty was given to 
England rather than ‘to Ireland. Yet they were a 
breed of people which Ireland would be the poorer for 
losing; as soldiers, as sailors, as adventurers, they 
distinguished themselves in every walk of life. They 
had been brought up to regard a privileged position in 
their own country as a natural right; and in the 
course of events they were, perhaps, denied even 
their ordinary opportunities to be of service at home, 
because of their political opinions. That those who 
remain, and their descendants, may live and work for 
Ireland in Ireland is the wish of every good Irishman. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 
The Struggle for Home Rule. 


AFTER the death of Parnell, while faction set the 
leaders of nationalism tearing each other to pieces in 
the public eye, great despondency about the political 
movement fell on Ireland, and the younger men 
inclined to seek some other expression for their 
nationalist ideals. In 1893, the Gaelic League was 
founded by Douglas Hyde, Eoin MacNeill, and others. 
Neither O’Connell nor the Fenians nor Parnell’s party 
had attached serious value to the language. The 
Young Ireland writers had, however, done so, and the 
new men took up the line of saying that a separate 
language was to a country what its flag should be, 
and more, because it was a real thing and not a 
symbol. Progress was slow; but by 1900 the Gaelic 
League had attracted much support, and by 1905 it 
was an important and far-reaching organisation. In 
theory, it was non-political; but in fact, since it 
taught that association with England had all but killed 
the Irish language, everybody under its influence was 
inclined to desire separation from England. 

It did not succeed in making Irish people use Irish 
more in ordinary speech, but it greatly increased the 
number of those who learnt Irish from books; and it 
gained for Irish a recognised place in the education 
of Irish children. There was, about the same time, 
a very notable literary revival in which the chief 

288 


THE STRUGGLE FOR HOME RULE 289 


figure was the poet W. B. Yeats, with whom George 
Russell, ‘‘ A.E.,’’ came to be associated. These, and 
the others who worked in the same spirit, were Irish 
nationalists, and they deliberately looked to Irish 
history and legend for subjects; but they did not use 
verse, as the writers of the ‘‘ Nation ’’ had done, for 
political writing. They were more purely artists and 
less of journalists. But neither their popularity nor 
their influence was so widespread as that of the earlier 
writers, or that of Moore. 

The Fenian movement, in its old form, showed no 
sign of renewed activity at this time; but an 
extremist, who was at one time a Fenian, Arthur 
Griffith, laid in 1899 the foundation for what is 
called Sinn Féin. He was a journalist, writing on 
events of the day; but by his literary power he ranked 
with Mitchel, and even with Swift; and his paper, the 
‘United Irishman,’’ was supported by Yeats and 
other leaders of the literary revival. Griffith did not 
recommend the resort to arms, but held that govern- 
ment could be rendered impossible by various forms 
of passive resistance, such as refusal to pay taxes. 
Unluckily, the people who paid income tax were 
mostly Unionists, and all other taxes were included in 
the price of drink, tobacco, tea, and the like. 

The effect of Griffith’s teaching was to create 
among the young men a spirit of readiness to work 
for Ireland in new ways; and, on the other hand, to 
make them distrust and despise all attempts to get 
freedom through action in the British Parliament. 

Yet, from the time of the Wyndham Act onwards, 
the Parliamentary Party regained much of its old 
position. The advantages of a land revolution were 


(D 574) K 


2090 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


felt everywhere. Also, it was plain that England was 
changing its attitude to Ireland. During the South 
African War of 1899—1902, Irish Nationalists had 
sided openly with the Boers; a small Irish contingent 
had fought for them. On the other hand, Irish regi- 
ments in the British service had once more distin- 
guished themselves greatly, and at the end of the war 
English feeling was not strong either against the 
Irish or against the Boers. Democratic England was 
much less vindictive and much more generous than 
the England which was governed by landlords and 
rich merchants. 

The two sections of the Irish had now been united 
under the chairmanship of John Redmond, who was 
formerly leader of the Parnellite minority; and much 
was hoped in 1906, when a House of Commons was 
elected having an overwhelming majority of Home 
Rulers. But some of the most influential Liberals had 
given a pledge that in that Parliament the Liberals, if 
in power, would not propose a Home Rule Bill. This 
pledge they kept scrupulously. But certain things 
happened that were important. First, self-govern- 
ment was given to conquered South Africa, as com- 
plete as that which Canada or Australia enjoyed. 
When the results proved entirely satisfactory, people 
everywhere began to ask why Ireland should be other- 
wise treated. Next, at last a National University was 
established of a kind which Catholics were ready to 
accept. The old colleges in Cork and Galway were 
linked with one in Dublin which had been established 
by Catholics from private funds; and Belfast was made 
a separate University. In the National University 
very full provision was made for the study of the 


THE STRUGGLE FOR HOME RULE 291 


Irish language and history. But when it came into 
operation, the Gaelic League agitated that no one 
should be allowed to enter it who could not pass an 
examination in Irish; the general mass of the 
Nationalists took this up and Irish was made 


compulsory. 
Next, Old Age Pensions and National Health Insur- 
ance was introduced. Ireland had a much larger 


proportion of poor than England, and had also, owing 
to the constant emigration, a much larger number of 
old persons in proportion to her total numbers; and 
the payments to Ireland were so large that Irish taxes 
no longer paid for all that was spent on Ireland. 
There was no contribution from Ireland to the services 
of the Empire; the Empire had to contribute to keep 
Ireland going. 

Finally, the House of Lords rejected a Finance Bill 
which had passed the House of Commons, and so 
exceeded its rights. There was now a chance to 
lessen the power of the Lords. The Liberals were 
returned again with a much reduced minority; the Irish 
could, by voting with the Conservatives, put them out. 
It is very improbable that without this pressure the 
Act would have been passed which limited the power 
of the Lords to delaying a Bill from passing for three 
years. When this was carried, the Liberals proceeded 
to pass two measures which everyone knew that the 
Lords would reject—Home Rule for Ireland and Dis- 
establishment for Wales. These were carried for the 
first time in 1912. The Bills were rejected, and 
needed to be passed again in 1913 and 1914. Unless 
something unforeseen happened, this would certainly 
come to pass, and the Opposition was desperate. 


292 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


Unionist Ulster now declared that it would fight rather 
than submit. A Covenant was signed all through the 
north of Ireland pledging those who signed it to resis- 
tance, and an Ulster Volunteer Force began to be 
formed. The head of the movement was a Dublin 
lawyer, Sir Edward Carson. It had the support of 
the English Unionist Party. Secretly, but to general 
knowledge, it had spread insubordination in the army. 
Fifty years earlier, the Fenians had done the same; 
but their adherents were in the ranks; those who 
promised to support Ulster, in case Ulster resisted an 
Act of Parliament by force, were officers—some of 
them very highly placed. In 1913, the Ulster Volun- 
teers had got a considerable quantity of arms, and 
were a small army. In the autumn of that year, 
during a great strike in Dublin, Mr. Larkin announced 
that he would follow Sir Edward Carson’s example 
and form a Citizen Army. Shortly after, Professor 
MacNeill, in the organ of the Gaelic League, advo- 
cated the forming of Irish Volunteers, and before the 
end of the year a large body were enrolled. Most of 
the men active in it at the beginning were either 
Fenians, or followers of Arthur Griffith, whose policy 
had come to be known as Sinn Féin. 

The Liberal Government had taken no steps to put 
down the Ulster Volunteers; it had to allow the other 
movement to go on; and, at the beginning of 1914, 
Mr. Asquith put forward a proposal to secure agree- 
ment. The Ulster leader had proposed at first to 
exclude all Ulster from Home Rule. Redmond had 
declared that Irish Nationalists could never submit 
to the partition of the nation. Now, Mr. Asquith pro- 
posed that each county in Ulster should be given the 


THE STRUGGLE FOR HOME RULE 2903 


choice to remain under the Imperial Parliament for a 
period of six years. Redmond agreed to this, but 
Ulster rejected it, saying that no exclusion which was 
limited in time was of any use. 

Then happened what is known as the Curragh 
Mutiny. General Gough, who commanded there, was 
told that he and his officers would be ordered to move 
on Ulster, and that if they were unwilling to go they 
must resign their commissions. Fifty resigned. A 
month later the Ulster Volunteers seized the ports of 
Larne and Donaghadee, and imprisoned the Custom 
House Officers while a large cargo of rifles was being 
run in. The Unionists everywhere applauded this; 
nobody was punished; and Redmond now decided to 
throw himself into the Volunteer movement. The 
force increased by thousands weekly, and soon was 
more numerous than the Ulster one. But it had no 
arms. On Sunday, 26th July, 1914, a cargo of rifles 
was landed at Howth from a yacht sailed by Erskine 
Childers; a body of Volunteers met the boat, and, 
marching back to Dublin were met by troops who 
attempted to take the rifles. There was a scuffle, and 
one or two men wounded; the Volunteers scattered 
with their arms. The troops marching back to 
Dublin were hooted and pelted till at last some of 
them turned and fired on the crowd, killing three 
persons. 

Yet on the following Sunday the European War had 
begun, and when Parliament met, Redmond, as leader 
of the Irish people, undertook that all British troops 
might be withdrawn from Ireland: the Irish Volun- 
teers would defend the country. ‘‘For that purpose,”’ 
he said, ‘‘ the armed Catholics in the south will be 


204 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


only too glad to join arms with the armed Protestant 
Ulstermen. Is it too much to hope that out of this 
situation a result may spring which will be good, not 
merely for the Empire, but for the future welfare and 
integrity of the Irish nation ?’’ 

Redmond’s action was approved by his own Party, 
and by the mass of the Irish people; but it was dis- 
approved by Sinn Féiners, who said that he should 
have stood neutral. The Fenians, more extreme, 
were for joining England’s enemies. They would, 
however, have agreed that Redmond and his following 
could not honourably advocate this course. In a 
succession of utterances, Redmond and the rest had 
pledged good-will to the English people if the English 
people showed good-will to Ireland; and at three 
General Elections the English people had shown them- 
selves friendly to Ireland’s claim. The entire Labour 
Party were solid for it, the Liberal Party was for it. 
Nothing remained but the opposition of the Tory 
Party, a minority in Great Britain, and the House of 
Lords. An Act had been passed which would defeat 
that opposition. The requirements of the law were 
not yet complete; the Home Rule Bill had still to be 
passed for the third time through its final stage; but 
for this the British people and its Government were 
not toblame. The position had now altered. - War, 
which very few anticpated, had come, and instantly 
the great British Parties closed up in one. Nothing 
henceforward could be done except by compromise. 
The Tory Party, indeed, claimed that all measures 
should be dropped which were being forced through 
against the vote of the House of Lords, and Home 
Rule was the chief of these. But Redmond by his 


THE STRUGGLE FOR HOME RULE 295 


speech, which affected England profoundly, had made 
it impossible for Liberals to desert him, and the Bill 
was carried through its final stage and became an 
Act, but with this proviso—that it should not come 
into operation till the war was over. Further, a 
definite pledge was given that ‘‘ Ulster should not be 
coerced.’’ Yet the general opinion at the time was 
that Redmond had won, and that without his declara- 
tion at the opening of the war he would not have 
carried the Home Rule Act. 

Other things, however, affected his utterance. 
First of all, he himself was vehemently convinced 
that the Allies were in the right. Germany stood for 
everything that the democratic Irish Party had 
always been opposed to. Also, he felt very strongly 
that France was the traditional friend of Ireland, 
and had a claim on her affection. In these respects 
Ireland at large agreed with him: Ireland took in- 
stinctively the side of France. No one in Ireland 
sided instinctively with Germany, though some sided 
instinctively with the enemy of England. 

Finally—and this was strongest—Redmond was 
convinced that Ireland would recover self-government; 
but he saw his country ranged in two opposing armies 
ready for civil war. The real difficulty was, not to 
carry Home Rule, but to unite Ireland. The war had 
swept English party divisions out of sight. In 
Ireland, it might possibly make the difference angrier 
than ever. Pride was at stake both north and south to 
prevent armed force from giving way. He proposed 
to let their pride turn to a contest which could be 
bravest in a cause that both approved. 

It was a policy of evoking generosity instead of 


206 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


hatred; but it met with no response from Ulster; and 
though England applauded, English ministers ham- 
pered it. It failed. But it failed only after Ireland 
had abandoned it half-way through the war. And 
no other policy has succeeded in what was Redmond’s 
object—to bring all Irishmen together in one self- 
governing nation, united as, in spite’of Party differ- 
ences and class divisions, Englishmen, Scots, and 
Welshmen then showed themselves to be. 

In one place it succeeded. The Protestant Irish 
outside of Ulster, as a whole, answered Redmond’s 
appeal. For the first time, they took their place on 
an equality in the ranks of the Irish nation; and the 
best of them, who had been opposed to Home Rule 
all their lives, now accepted the leadership of an Irish 
Catholic Home Ruler, and were angry because the 
English Government refused concessions to Irish 
feeling about the formation of Irish corps. These 
concessions were made later, when they were use- 
less alike to Ireland and to England. 

Catholic Ireland as a wholeresponded to Redmond’s 
appeal. It is not known how many men enlisted as 
volunteers. What is known is that fifty thousand men 
born in Ireland, of whom the large majority were 
Catholic, died in the British armies. Unless Irish 
regiments were more exposed than others—and they 
were not, so far as we know—the Irish soldiers, all 
of them volunteers, must have been more than a 
quarter of a million. They volunteered, no doubt, for 
a great variety of reasons. But it is certain that a 
great many Irishmen volunteered because they 
believed that by doing so they would strengthen 
Ireland’s claim to freedom; also, that a great many 


THE STRUGGLE FOR HOME RULE 207 


Ulstermen volunteered to strengthen Ulster’s claim to 
be left alone. Also, the proportion of men who 
volunteered was larger among Protestants than 
among Catholics in Ireland. And in Nationalist 
Ireland, there was what there was not in Unionist 
Ireland, a strong body actively hostile to the war. 

After the Home Rule Bill had been passed into law, 
when Redmond openly called for volunteers for foreign 
service, the section in the Irish Volunteers which 
represented Sinn Féin broke away, and the Volunteers 
divided. The majority took the name of National 

Volunteers. Of these, the most energetic and 
courageous were soon in khaki on their way to 
Flanders. But the active and energetic among Sinn 
Féiners and Fenians, though having only about a tenth 
of the whole force, remained in Ireland and continued 
to drill. The British Government, which had 
tolerated Ulster’s preparations for rebellion, did not 
feel able to interfere with these. 

* The history of the Easter Rising in 1916 need not 
be told here. But some things should be known. A 
general movement of Volunteers through Ireland, 
backed by German help, was planned; but when it 
became clear that no help would come, the rebellion 
was, at the last moment, called off. A section, how- 
ever, representing the Fenians and the small body of 
the Citizen’ Army decided to act. They came out in 
uniform, as an open challenge to British power. From 
their stronghold in the General Post Office they pro- 
claimed the Irish Republic, in whose name the Fenians 
had always acted. They were put down in a few 
days, mainly by Irish troops, and Ireland as a 
whole was angrily against them, and for the 


208 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


troops. They had foreseen failure and even 
unpopularity, but they trusted that the British 
Government would by its action turn Ireland 
to their side. Redmond’s view, that the outbreak 
should be dealt with by contemptuous leniency, as the 
South African Government had dealt with a similar 
rising, was wholly set aside, and a sense of grave 
injustice was created by one incident. An officer who 
was not sane had, in defiance of discipline, ordered 
the shooting of three civilians, none of whom had 
been in arms. His superiors in rank, knowing the 
facts, left him in command, and their conduct was 
not even publicly censured. At the same time, fifteen 
of the insurgents were executed without publication of 
any evidence. Ireland, after her right to self-govern- 
ment had been admitted, was denied in practice all 
right of judgment in her own concerns. 

Two months after the rising it was proposed to 
bring the Home Rule Act into operation outside of 
Unionist Ulster. The negotiations were carried far, 
and at one point were expected to succeed. But the 
essential cause of breakdown was the refusal of 
Nationalists to admit that six counties should be 
excluded, and that exclusion should be permanent. 

In the war, Irish regiments distinguished them- 
selves exceedingly, and the Ulstermen and the rest 
fraternised in trenches, sufficiently to show that 
Redmond’s policy, if it had been carried out without 
interruption, could have done much to unite Ireland; 
and that a united Ireland could have had whatever it 
asked for. But the country was turning steadily 
from the Constitutional Party. At a Convention of 
Irishmen summoned in 1917, SinnFéin refused to take 


THE STRUGGLE FOR HOME RULE 299 


part, and after many months no union was effected 
except to some degree between Nationalists and the 
representatives of the Southern Unionists. In March, 
1918, Redmond died, and Mr. Dillon succeeded him as 
leader. In April, the British Parliament passed an 
Act imposing conscription on Ireland. With the 
exception of Protestant Ulster, this measure was 
resisted by an organisation of the whole country. 
Nationalists and Sinn Féiners combined with the 
Catholic hierarchy, and Britain shrank from the 
attempt to enforce it. The Irish Volunteers were 
strongly organised for resistance, and they took 
charge of the defence fund which raised a quarter of 
a million. 

The defeat of conscription was justly taken as a 
signal triumph for Sinn Féin; and after the war 
when a General Election was held, the Parliamentary 
Party was swept out of existence in three provinces. 
Only Redmond’s son retained his seat. 

This was the end of the Constitutional movement 
for Irish freedom. But the Sinn Féin Party began 
where Redmond left off. England had been among 
the victors of a war which was represented—justly— 
as a war to defend the rights of small nations; 
English statesmen had appealed to Ireland for volun- 
teers on that ground, and had got them. Liberty 
had been restored to Poland and to others of the 
weaker nationalities. In regard to Ireland, the 
position was that England had passed an Act to 
establish self-government in Ireland. Sinn Féin did 
not need to wrest from the British an admission of 
Ireland’s right; that had been won. England could 
not simply claim to go on as before. She must either 


300 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


give freedom or, in the face of all her protestations, 
annul an Act which gave the groundwork of it. 

It should be noted that in Australia, which by 
admission took its full part in the war, a proposal 
to introduce conscription was defeated. Resistance 
was organised by the Irish-Australians who make 
about one-fourth of the total population. Ireland 
had been sending citizens to Australia from 1800 
onwards: Michael Dwyer, a famous insurgent of 
1798, who held out in the Dublin mountains till after 
Emmet’s rising, was sent there with his family: so 
were many political prisoners of that day and of 
1848. Later, in the periods of emigration there was 
always a trickle to Australia, while the main stream 
went to the United States: and these emigrants 
remained Irish in sympathy and were kept separate 
from the community to some extent by their religion. 
They gave much support in money to the Constitu- 
tional movement under Parnell and Redmond. In 
Australian politics they were largely led by a famous 
churchman—Cardinal Moran: and the resistance to 
conscription was mainly inspired by Archbishop 
Mannix. But the Australian Irish, who contributed 
largely to the Australian troops, did not go beyond 
the demand that Ireland should receive her rights as 
one of the small nationalities. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 
The End of the Union. 


AT the elections in 1918, all Sinn Féin candidates were 
pledged not to attend the British Parliament, but to 
claim an Irish Republic. All Unionist candidates in 
Ulster were pledged to refuse to come under any form 
of Home Rule. 

All Irish members were summoned to meet as a 
Parliament in the Mansion House, Dublin. Only the 
Sinn Féiners attended; neither Unionists nor the 
Nationalists, of whom some had been elected in 
Ulster, answered their names. Mr. de Valera was 
elected President; a Ministry was appointed. For a 
considerable time the British Government allowed the 
whole to go on, affecting to treat it as a farce. But 
the Republican Ministers issued orders which the 
Volunteers enforced: and in the autumn of 1919, Sinn 
Féin and Dail Eireann were declared to be illegal 
associations. At first the Republican leaders had 
declared their position to be that of the Belgian 
authorities during the German occupation: they sub- 
mitted to the rule of an invading power because not 
strong enough to fight it. But gradually attempts of 
the Republicans to seize arms and explosives, or to 
rescue prisoners, led to bloodshed; and the country 
passed into a state of guerilla war. England’s diff- 
culty was that the assailants, being in civilian clothes, 
disappeared easily into the ordinary population, and 

301 


302 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


all the Irish refused to give any assistance to the 
English power. Only the Irish police could be of 
service to distinguish those who were carrying on the 
fight: and as they did so, the I.R.A. (Irish Republican 
Army) practically declared war on the police, and the 
Irish people supported them. When a policeman was 
killed, no jury would find a verdict of murder. 

But the English were not in so strong a position as 
the Germans in Belgium. Many of the inhabitants of 
Ireland were in sympathy with them, and especially 
this was true of the richer people. It was not, there- 
fore, possible for them to punish the population in a 
district indiscriminately, as an invading army in a 
purely hostile country would have done: and when they 
punished individuals, the I.R.A. struck back at those 
Irish who were supporters of England. 

War, as all Europe knows now, is always demoralis- 
ing: but a guerilla war brings out the worst of both 
sides. The struggle lasted for nearly two years, and 
it will be best understood by remembering the things 
which are honourable on both sides. 

First, then, the actual fighters on the Irish side 
were few: but tens of thousands of Irish people 
knowingly and gladly took great risks in giving them 
food and shelter, and they did so more zealously 
according as the threat of danger increased. The 
resistance was national. 

Secondly, the attachment of the Irish race even in 
foreign lands to its own country was powerfully 
shown. Throughout the struggle, Ireland in America 
exercised great pressure on the English Government. 
The policy which had driven millions of Irish out of 
Ireland, weakened England in the world of nations. 


THE END OF THE UNION 303 


Nobody disputed that Ireland also was a world force, 
having her allies. The fear of what Ireland might 
induce America to do was always present with British 
statesmen. 

Thirdly, the British people agreed willingly to what 
may be regarded as a surrender, partly from war- 
weariness, but far more because they felt that they 

were not in the right. 

_ They had fought a great war cleanly, and their 
terrible losses had left them little but their pride. It 
lessened their pride and satisfaction to find them- 
selves using force in Ireland to deny self-government 
to a small nation, when they had regarded themselves 
as champions of self-government. More than that, 
they began gradually to be aware that this struggle 
was not being fought cleanly. 

The Irish police force had been always a semi- 
military body. When the I.R.A. succeeded partly in 
breaking it up, England renewed the force by ex- 
soldiers and ex-officers. These men became the main 
object of attack, and the main force of resistance. 
British troops were very little engaged; their presence 
retained the hold on the railways and towns. The 
I.R.A. were not strong enough to attack large bodies 
and, as a rule, individual soldiers were seldom 
molested. There were, however, many violent provo- 
cations, and the British troops, officers and men as 
a whole, behaved with extraordinary forbearance. 
The new police, however, were employed with a pur- 
pose of inspiring terror, and they were under no 
proper discipline. In such a struggle as developed, 
neither side will disown the deeds of its worst men, 
and horrible things were done on both sides. 


304 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


But when it became known, in spite of denials, that 
actions were being done by men in an English uniform 
which England would never tolerate, persons in Eng- 
land who could not be disregarded began to express 
the uneasy feeling of the nation. These were neither 
pacifists nor the party opponents of the Government. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury was a notable example. 
They were moved by their feeling for their own 
country, not by their feeling for Ireland; and they 
sought to bring to an end what was felt as a disgrace. 

Further than that, Englishmen began to realise that 
those who opposed them in Ireland were making war 
in the only way possible for a weak nation, and were 
doing it according to their conscience. A young 
English officer, Major Compton Smith, distinguished 
in the European war, was captured in Ireland. A 
message was sent to the British that if certain I.R.A. 
prisoners were executed, he would be shot in reprisal: 
and in the end order came to shoot. Before dying, he 
left a letter to his wife in which he said:— 


“*T leave my watch to the officer who is executing 
me, because I believe him to be a gentleman, to 
mark the fact that I bear him no malice for carrying 
out that which he sincerely believes to be his duty.’’ 


When discussion took place after the signing of 
the Treaty, General Mulcahy, Chief of Staff to the 
I.R.A., said that one of his reasons for accepting a 
settlement was that he did not want to have to kill 
any more Englishmen like Compton Smith. 

All these things help to understand what the 
Treaty was, and why it was accepted, on both sides. 
The main reason was that both peoples, the English 


THE END OF THE UNION 305 


and the Irish, were not only war-weary, but disgusted 
with the struggle. 

There are, however, other considerations. In June, 
1921, the military strength of Great Britain in Ireland 
was increasing, and the J.R.A. were running short of 
rifles and ammunition. Sinn Féin had strong military 
reasons for getting what it could while it could. This 
was, no doubt, known to Mr. Lloyd George, the 
British Prime Minister, and he desired a settlement 
which would clear Great Britain of the charge of dis- 
honourable inconsistency. Also, from his point of 
view, the Ulster difficulty had been settled. Ulster 
had accepted Home Rule. 

In the spring of 1920, a measure was at last taken 
to fulfil the Home Rule pledge and the pledge to 
Ulster. A new Bill was introduced, setting up two 
Irish Parliaments instead of one. Each of them had 
the same degree of power over its own region as was 
given to one Parliament over all Ireland by the Act 
of 1914. 

No Irish member voted for the 1920 Bill, but when 
it was passed, Ulster accepted it. Ulster was defined 
as 31x counties, although in two of these counties— 
Tyrone and Fermanagh—Nationalists had a majority. 
Elections for the two Parliaments were held all over 
Ireland in April, 1921; but when the Parliament of 
Southern Ireland was summoned, no one attended it 
except the members for Trinity College; and in the 
Northern Parliament no Nationalist or Sinn Féiner 
attended. When the Northern Parliament was opened 
by the King on 22nd June, 1921, it was admitted that 
Ireland, outside Ulster, refused to accept this form of 
self-government; and the King’s speech was an appeal 


(D 574) KK 


300 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


for conciliation and settlement. Negotiations in 
Dublin followed, and leaders of the Southern Unionists 
met Mr. de Valera. At the beginning of July, a truce 
was proclaimed. Mr. de Valera went to London to 
confer with Mr. Lloyd George, and in August the 
Brittsh Government published its offer that Ireland 
should have the position of a Dominion, with certain 
reservations. 

The Second Dail, consisting of the Sinn Féin mem- 
bers elected in 1921 to either the Southern or Northern 
Parliament, met, and accepted the advice already 
given publicly by Mr. de Valera to refuse the offer; 
they demanded that Ireland should be recognised as 
a separate Republic. This was definitely refused by 
England: and finally five representatives of Dail 
Eireann were appointed to negotiate for a settlement. 
These were Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, Eamonn 
Duggan, Robert Barton, and George Gavan Duffy. 

It was universally known that they went to bargain, 
and could not therefore hope to obtain the maximum 
which Ireland asked, namely, complete separation. 
It was also known that when Sinn Féin was returned 
to power in 1918, a very large proportion of those who 
voted for a Republic regarded this simply as a way of 
asking for a much larger measure of self-government 
than the Home Rule Act gave. This was generally 
admitted in the debates on the Treaty. 

After long negotiation, on December 6, 1921, the 
Treaty was signed by the representatives of Great 
Britain and Ireland. Either Parliament was at liberty 
to reject it. When the terms were published, Ireland 
at large thought them unbelievably favourable, and 
there was a general shock of surprise when Mr. de 


THE END OF THE UNION 307 


Valera published a letter to say that he was against 
acceptance. The Treaty recognised Ireland as a 
member of ‘‘ the Community of Nations known as the 
British Empire,’’ having in it the rights of a 
Dominion, more especially the rights of the Dominion 
of Canada—Canada being the oldest and most power- 
ful of the Dominions. There were some conditions, 
however, imposed, because Ireland is part of the same 
island group as Britain. Three naval bases—in Lough 
Swilly, Bantry Bay, and Cove—were to be main- 
tained, and Ireland was not to build submarines nor 
to raise an army larger in proportion to her numbers 
than that of Britain. These clauses were insisted on 
because England, who had narrowly escaped starva- 
tion by submarine war, still harboured fears, and 
would not consent to weaken her naval defences. 
Further, Ireland, which had been so long associated 
with England, was called on to take its share of the 
British debt; but against this Ireland was entitled to 
set up a counter-claim for over-taxation in the past. 
These amounts were to be settled by an impartial 
arbitrator. 

Finally, there was the question of Ulster. Nobody 
could deny that the north-east differed greatly from 
the rest of the country—in race and in religion. This 
was not all. Only in this part was there a modern 
industrial community. Also, apart from open distrust, 
which could be set down to prejudice, the Ulstermen 
were entitled to say that in Belfast they had shown 
an example of successful city government. Dublin 
Corporation gave a very different example: Ulster did 
not want to subject Belfast to Dublin government, nor 
to allow laws to be made for an industrial community 

(D 574) KK2 


308 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


by a Parliament representing mainly farmers. Mr. 
de Valera had so far recognised the justice of these 
views that he had proposed to leave Ulster such 
rights of Provincial Government as were possessed by 
Quebec, a State largely French and Catholic, in the 
British Protestant dominion of Canada. 

The Treaty then offered that, if Ulster came under 
a Parliament of All Ireland, its local parliament should 
retain the powers it already possessed. The powers 
over Ulster, possessed by the British Parliament, 
would be transferred to Dublin. 

But if Ulster’s Parliament voted against coming 
under the Act, Ulster should remain as it was, except 
that a Boundary Commission should revise the frontier 
in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. 

Great objection was taken to this clause, as it 
accepted partition. It is, however, now generally 
recognised that nothing could unite Ulster with the 
rest of Ireland except a conviction in Ulster that it 
would be to Ulster’s advantage; and that the proof 
that self-government could be successfully worked 
from Dublin needed first to be given by experience. 

The main resistance in the Dail, however, was based 
on the oath of allegiance, and on the surrender of 
national rights. The arguments for accepting the 
Treaty were, first, that the will of the country was for 
it by a large majority, and no one denied this; and 
secondly, that the position of a Dominion was only 
accepted as stepping-stone to complete separation. 
Almost every speaker for the Treaty signified that he 
accepted it as a means to a Republic. 

There 1s no doubt that Ireland can at any time 
honourably declare for separation; exactly as the same 


THE END OF THE UNION 309 


is admitted about Canada or South Africa. Also, it 
is sure that nothing would induce England to under- 
take the reconquest of Ireland except a feeling that 
England’s safety was concerned. This feeling, 
however, would be possibly entertained in England 
because of the geographical nearness. 

On the other hand, it may be reasonably hoped that 
whatever part of Ulster remains separate will ulti- 
mately join with Ireland to be a self-governing member 
of ‘‘ the Community of Nations known as the British 
Empire.’’ But it is very improbable that Ulster will 
join in a project of complete separation. One of 
the main arguments for accepting the Treaty is that 
by maintaining the demand for a Republic the union 
of all Ireland is rendered hopeless. 

The Irish people have now their opportunity under 
a Constitution drawn up after the best examples of 
other democratic countries. Some of its provisions 
give a degree of power to the community at large 
which is not yet understood. Ireland is still only 
learning to use the rights and the duties of a self- 
governing State. But it can be said that a group of 
young Irishmen, without experience, and picked 
almost at random, when the outstanding leaders were 
withdrawn within the first few years earned the 
admiration of Great Britain and of Ulster by their 
courage and by their ability. 

To sum up: Self-government is now established and 
valued in every province in Ireland, but under two 
Parliaments. That which sits in Belfast has practically 
the powers which the Home Rule Act of 1914 proposed 
to confer on all Ireland, and is, therefore, in many 
ways connected with and subject to the British Par- 


310 HISTORY OF IRELAND 


liament. That which sits in Dublin has complete self- 
government. It has used its powers to establish a 
system of taxation, including protective tariffs, wholly 
distinct from that used in Great Britain. The six 
counties of Northern Ireland remain practically under 
the British system of taxes, but they control the 
spending of money in their area. 

Both Parliaments have found it necessary to make 
great changes, and to contemplate or undertake great 
engineering projects. Both have ample time to con- 
sider their own problems. The British Parliament 
overburdened with work never had time to deal suit- 
ably with Ireland’s needs. 

In both Irish Parliaments it was found necessary to 
complete at once the operation of Land Purchase. 
Ireland is now entirely a country of peasant 
proprietors, and in this respect has grown more than 
ever unlike Great Britain. The government of Ireland 
according to Irish ideas has begun, and will continue. 
But at present the ideas of Belfast differ considerably 
from those of Dublin, and means have not yet been 
found to reconcile the two elements in the Irish 
people so as to work at a common united system for 
dealing with the whole country. 


INDEX 


Abercromby, Sir Ralph, 231, 


234. 

Act of Settlement, Crom- 
well’s, 189, 1093. 

Act of Union, 234-40. 

Adamnan, 37, 39. 

Adrian IV., Pope, Bull of, 
66, 102-3. 

A280. 

Agrarian agitation, 216, 248. 

Agriculture, Department of, 


285. 
Aidan, St., 35. 
Aileach, 27, 30. 
Ailill Molt, 27. 
Ath Cliath, 43. 
Alexander II., Pope: His 
letter to Irish Bishops, 75. 
America, Protestant emigra- 
tion to, 213, 217, 265. 
War of Independence, 
Irish sympathy for, 220. 
Emigration after famine, 
265. 
Effect in Ireland, 270-1, 











277. 
Antrim, Battle of, 232. 
Ascendency, power of, 248. 
Asquith, Mr., 202. 
Archbishoprics, establishment 
Or, 62,65. 
Architecture, 
30, SI. 
religious, 62, 63. 
Armagh, centre of Christ- 
tianity, 21. 
seat of learning, 35, 115. 
school at, 35. 
——plundered by Danes, 42. 
Normans, 134. 
The Book of, 51. 


early wooden, 














Armagh, 


Army, Catholics in, 179, 227, 
240; (242-200: 
Artillery, British, introduc- 
tion of, 138, 140, 142. 
Athenry, Battle of, 1o1. 
walls built, rio. 
Athlone, Siege of, 200. 
Aughrim, Battle of, 200. 
Augustine, St., 35. 
Australia, 300. 





Bagenal, Sir Henry, 150, 161. 
Ballaghmoon, Battle of, 46. 
Baltimore, sack of, 178. 
Baltinglass, Lord, 155. 
Barry, John, 220. 
Barton, Robert, 306. 
Bedell, Bishop, 180-181. 
Belfast, 106, 108, 175, 
195, 213. 
growth of, 253, 273-4. 
Benburb, Battle of, 184. 
Benignus, St., 21. 
Bermingham, Piers de, gr. 
John, 109. 
Bernard, St., 61-5. 
Berwick, Duke of, 106-7. 
hte translated into Irish, 
180. 
Bingham, Sir Richard, 157. 
Bishoprics, established by St. 
Patrick, 60, 61, 62. 
Numbers reduced, 68. 
Bishops, in Ireland, under 
Beatie feudal system, 88, 
Q. 
——under penal laws, 206. 
attitude to Revolution, 
250% 


183, 














311 


312 


Bishops, proposed veto on, 
247. 

—attitude to 
University, 259. 

Bissets, the, 100, 

Black Rent, 1109. 

Book of Kells, 30. 

Armagh, 51. 

Leinster, 64. 

Rights, The 46, 64. 

Boycott, 278, 270. 

Boyne, Battle of the, 
198. 

Brefny, growth of kingdom, 
ry tae 3h 

Brehon Law, 34, 40, 80, 83, 
88, 100, 116, 110, 127. 

translation from, 
172. 

Brian Boru, 27, 
Ns 6 

Baad pa Bete BS 

Bruce, Edward, 100-105. 

Brunanburgh, Battle of, 46. 

de Burghs, origin of family, 
95;° 96, 105, 113, 114 

de Burgh, Edmund AThaneaye 
founder of Mayo line, 106. 


Queen’s 


107. 











1Q7; 





144, 


45, 47, 49, 








Richard, conqueror of 
Connaught, go, ol. 

Richard, the Red Earl, 
96, 99, 100, IOI, 105 


—W alter, the First Tat of 

Ulster, 95, 105, 106. 
William, founder of the 
family, 90, 91, 100. 
William, the Brown Earl, 
106)) 100; 
William, 

100, 100. 
Burke, Edmund, 217, 278. 
on the penal laws, 218. 
Butlers, the, 80, 105, 129, 

135, 142. See also Ormond. 
Butt, 1Saac, 260) 352. 


Callan, Battle of, 94. 

Carew, Sir George, Presi- 
dent of Munster, 162, 163. 

Carson, Sir Edward, 292. 

Cashel i/Le yao. 

given to 

Ireland, 50. 











the Grey, 96, 





religious of 





INDEX 


Cashel, Cormac’s chapel at, 
60, 63. 

Psalter of, 46. 

Castlereagh, Lord, 

Cathach, The, 34. 

Catholic Association, 248. 

Catholic emancipation, 
ginnings of, 221. 

supported by Volunteers, 

222; by Belfast, 228. 

Pitt’s attitude, 236, 247. 

——Fitzwilliam’s project de- 
feated, 229. 

carried by O’Connell, 





218. 


be- 











249. 
Catholic Confederation, 182. 
‘‘ Catholic Rent,’’ 248. 
Catholicism, Irish, position of 
under Henry VIII, 145. 





—under Edward VI, 147. 
under Elizabeth, 153-4, 
Toe. Ens eos 





under James I, 168. 

—under Charles I, 178-9. 

under Commonwealth, 

189. 

under James II, 192-3. 

under Penal Laws, 201-9, 

224. 

in British Army, 227. 

Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 
280. 

Lady Frederick, 281. 

Charles I, 177, 179, 182, 183. 

LU, 200. ett: 

Chichester, Lord, 173. 

Childers, Erskine, 293. 

Chivalry, institution of, not 
extended to Irish, 66. 




















Christianity before ee 
Patrick, 16, 175/260 
Church in Ireland, early 


character of, 20, 29, 32. 
re-organisation of, 60, 63, 





83. 
Clanricarde, see de Burghs. 
earldom granted, 144. 
the Earl of, at Kinsale, 
163. 
de Clares, the, 96, 104. 
Clare, Lord, see under Fitz- 
gibbon. 








INDEX 


Clerkenwell explosion, 270. 

Clifford, Sir Conyers, 160. 

Clonard, 29-30, 32. 

Clontarf, Battle of, 53-6. 

** Coarbs ”? of Irish Monas- 
teries, 32. 

de Cogan, 74, 81. 

** Coigne and livery,’’ 125, 
130. 

Coinage, the first, 82, 85 

Columba, St., 32, 30. 

Collins, Michael, 306. 

Commerce, early, 45, IIo. 

Commercial restrictions, 203, 





i ass 422. 

emigration due to, 212, 
217. 

Composition of Connacht, 


154. 
Compton Smith, Major, 304. 
Conchobar MacNessa, 13. 
Confession of St. Patrick, 22, 

23. 
Confiscations, 

Offaly, 147. 
— under Elizabeth, 153, 155. 
under James I in Ulster, 

171-5. 

—under Strafford, 170. 

—under Cromwell and Act 
of Settlement, 180, ror. 

attempt to reverse under 

James II, 193. 

under William ILI, ‘202. 

Congested Districts Board, 

285. 

Conn of the Hundred Battles, 
Kingdom of, 13, 14, 25. 
Connacht, growing power of, 

65, 70, 71. 

Conquest of, 90-1. 
Connaught Rangers, 227. 
Constitutional agitation, 247, 


264, 299. 
thes Trish of 


Convention, 
208. 
Cork, 45, °8, 84, 86, 163, 188, 
6. 


in - Lex and 














IQI7 


23 ; f 
Cormac Mac Art, High King, 


13, 14. 
Cormac ena sunt his 


chapel, 6 


313 


Cormac MacCullinan, King 
and Bishop, his Glossary, 


46. 
Corn Laws, Foster’s, 223. | 
Counties, first organisation 

OF7.35. 

County Council set up, 285s. 
de Courcy, John, 78, 79, 84. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 141, 168, 

187, 180. 
settlers under, 191. 
Cross of Cong, 63. 

Crusades, Ireland’s absence 

from, 66. 

Cuchulain, 12. 
Curragh mutiny, the, 293. 





Dail Eireann, 301, 306. 
Daire, King of Oriel, 21. 
Dalcais, The, 47, 48, 66. 
Dalriada, 26, 36. 
Danes, coming of, 41. 
as traders and 
builders, 45. 

——their stores, 48. 

towns, 45. 

their Christianity, 50. 

—under Normans, 73-4, 77. 

Davis, Thomas, 256, 2509. 

Davitt, Michael, 276, 286. 

** Defenders,’’ the 220. 

Dermot MacMurrough, 71-3. 

Dervorgilla, 71. 

Derry, Columba’s monastery, 
32; fort established, 162; 
burnt, 171; sold to London 
Corporation, 174; siege of, 
194-6, 180, 192; shirt- 
making, 254. 

Desmond, Kingdom of, 6s; 
partitioned, 81; granted to 
Geraldines, 92, 95; Earl- 
dom of, 105; Irish character 
of the Earls, 114, 119, 125; 
their greatness, 128; the 
Great Earl executed, 130; 
Yorkist action, 135-6; cor- 
responding with foreign 
sovereigns, 140; Desmond 
Rebellion, 153-5; ‘‘Sugane’’ 
Earl, 162. 

Devoy, John, 276, 


town 











314 


Diamond, ‘* Battle ”’ of, 220. 

Dillon, John, 299. 

Disestablishment of Irish 
Church): 2712; 272. 

Dissenters, position of, 212, 
223/227; 

change of sympathy, 236, 
aba: 

Docwra, Sir Henry, 162, 163, 





ry’, ' 
Dress, prohibition of Irish, 


97. 
Drogheda, storming of, 187. 
Druids, 11, 109. 
Drummond, Thomas, 252. 
Dublin, Danish foundation 
of, 43-4. 
archbishopric created, 64, 
66 








Norman capture of, 74; 
charter rights, 86. 
resists Bruce, Io!. 
prosperity under 
Parliament, 223. 
Duffy, Charles Gavan, 256, 
262-3. 
Duffy, George Gavan, 306. 
Duggan, Eamonn, 300. 





Irish 





Earldoms, the Great, 117, 
1234 T2A; 1255912751925) 240. 


Earls, The Flight of, 166, 
13%; 

Easter Rising, 297-8... 

Ecclesiastical organisation, 


21, 32, 60-61. 
under Henry II, 88, 87. 
—under Henry VIII, 145. 
preference given to the 
English, 214. 











Education, in early Chris- 
tian times, 30, 36. 
encouraged by Brian 
Boru, 52. 


schools, 69. 
resort to Oxford, 115. 
——university proposed, 115. 
college at Youghal, 129. 
— Latin in schools, 134. 
——Dublin University, 











167. 


INDEX 


Education, Catholic schools 
closed, 168. 

hedge schools, 207. 

‘‘ National ’’ system es- 
tablished, 250. 

—Queen’s University, 250. 

—National University, 290. 

Edward I, 96, 08. 

—III, 106, 117. 

VI tA. 

ae Queen, 151, 156, 
158. 

Emain Macha, 12, 13, 14, 28. 

Emigration, Irish, to Austra- 
lia, 207-208. 

(Protestant) to America,. 

217. 320, 

after famine, 266. ¢s 

Emmet, Robert, 240-1, 243. 

——Thomas Addis, 228, 240. 

Emancipation, see Catholic. 

Buda. "Sts. 287 20, 

















Enniskillen, resistance at, 
195. 
Eoghan, conqueror of Tir 


Eoghain, 25, 26. 
Eoghanacht, the, 15, 46, 48, 


ie 

Epic cycles, 12, 13. 

Essex, Earl of, 162. 

European War, 293-97. 

Evictions, in Ulster, 217, 244, 
245, 247, 240. 

power of ended, 279. 





‘‘ F’s,’’ the Three, 260. 
Famine, 46, 155, 245. 

the Great, 260-262. 
consequences of, 265-7. 
Fenianism, 269-70, 289, 294, 








207. 

Fergus MacErc, 27, 28, 32. 
Ferns, 71. 

Feudal States, nature of, 67. 
system, spread of, 86. 
end of, 135, 145. 
Fianna, the, 13, 14. 

‘© Files, the,’’ 30: 

Finachta, the Festive, 38. 








INDEX 


Financial relations between 
Great Britain and Ireland, 
284, 307. 

Finnian, St., of Clonard, 20, 

O. 

of Movilla, 33, 34. 

Finn MacCool, 13. 

Firbolgs, the, 9. 

Fitzgeralds, the, 72, 73, 84, 
Q2 








James Fitzmaurice, 153, 
154. 

Garret Mor, 8th Earl of 
Kildare, 130-39. 

Garrett Oge, oth Earl, 











139, I4I-2. 
Bein Thomas, oth 
Earl, 141-2. 

—Gerald, 11th Earl, 144, 
149. 





Lord Edward, 228, 231, 


243. 

Fitzgibbon, Lord Clare, 2209, 
238. 

FitzHenry, 73. 

FitzThomas, John, killed at 
Callan, 94. 

FitzStephen, Robert, 73, 81, 


84. 

FitzWilliam, Lord, Eliza- 
beth’s deputy, 158. 
Lord Lieutenant, 





1795, 
228. 
Five Fifths of Ireland, the 


13. 
Flight of the Earls, 171. 
Flood, Henry, 220, 223. 
Foster, John, 223. 
against Union, 237. 





Fosterage, Irish custom of, 
69, I14. 
—cases of, 119, 128, 132, 


157. 

Fox, his ministry, 222. 

Franchise, electoral, given to 
Catholics, 227. 

extended, 282. 

Francis I., 140. 

Freemen, class of, 82. 

Free Trade movement of 
1770, 221. 





315 

French language, use of the, 
7S,U1 tS ie 

French naval expeditions, 


Sal, £90, -24A* 

French Revolution, various 
effects on Ireland, 226, 235, 
242, 246. 

of 1848, 262, 271. 





Gaels, the, 1-3. 

their conquest of Ireland, 
10. 
institutions 
ture, II-12. 
colonisation of Scotland, 
ao. 

completed conquest of it, 








and _litera- 








44. 
Gaelic language, 1, 37. 
use in towns, IIlI. 
its use forbidden, 110. 
prohibition dropped, 125. 
penal laws spread the 
language, 2009. 
effect on Thomas Moore, 
243. 
O’Connell’s 
against, 256. 
effect of famine, 262. 
of emigration, 271. 
Gaelic literature, 11-13, 36. 
——adoption by Normans, 
113-14, I1Q, 133. 
decay of, 160. 
——Bible in Gaelic, 180. 

** Gael and the Gall,’ the 

wars of the, 53. 

Gaelic League, 288, 201. 
Gallowglasses, the, 93, 125. 
Galway, 109, 111, IQ1. 
George III, resists emanci- 

pation, 220, 239. 
Geraldines, The, their origin, 

















influence 














73+ 
——the two branches, 91, 92, 
95, 105, 107, 120. 
east First Papal Legate, 
O 


Ginkel, 200, . 201. 
Gladstone, Mr., 271-2, 


278, 
283-4. i 


316 


Glossary of Cormac Mac 
Cullinan, 46. 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 217. 

Gormlaith, Queen, 50, 53. 

‘“ Graces, The,’’? of Charles 
I, 178. 

Grattan, Henry, 220. 

his policy, 221, 228. 

his Parliament, 221-26. 

refusal of office, 226. _ 

——withdraws from Parlia- 
THEN eaten, 

opposes Union, 237. 

Grazing, spread of, 211, 
223, 244, 254. 

Grey, Lord Leonard, 142, 143, 


155. 
Griffith, Arthur, 289, 292, 306. 
Grouchy, General, 230, 242. 
Guerilla war, 302. 














217, 


Haakon of Norway, Kingship 


offered to, 95. 
Hamiltons, The, 195, 106. 
Harpers, Irish, 113. 


‘* Hedge Schools ’’ and mas- 
teres ats 

Henry 11, (66,72, 74,°75; 76, 
102. 

LV 1223" 

——V, 121, 

ame VIT) 235, 137. 

—VIII, 139, 145, 156. 

King of Ireland, 144. 

High Kingship, the, 14, 26, 
27; fs Ne, 47, 50, SI, 58, 
70-1, 

Hoche, Caveat: 220 2As. 

Home ‘Rule, 273) 

Bill of 1886, 282. 

Bill of 1892, 283. 

—‘‘ killing by kindness,’’ 





124. 
124. 











Sips Fi, of 1912-14, 201. 

Ulster opposition to, 

284-5. 

Act of 1920, 305. 

Huguenots, under William of 
Orange, 197-1098. 

Humbert, 234. 

Hyde, Douglas, 288. 








INDEX 


Hy Kinsella, 71, 73. 

Hy Neill, the, 26-7. 
succession ended by 
Brian, 51. 





Inheritance and_ succession, 

Irish custom, 73. 

conflict with English law 

of, \33, ‘00; 927,) 172, 

effect on the de Burghs, 

96, 100, 106. 

on the Desmonds, 128. 

Intermarriage of Irish and 
Anglo-Irish, 78, 107, 114, 

forbidden, 119, 124, 128, 
132, 

Iona, monastery at, 35, 30. 

LORCA ataey 

Ireland, early divisions of, 
PAE: 

kingdoms of, 13, 25, 26. 

racial groups in, 101. 

Ireton, General, 1838. 

Irish, the American, 302. 

Irish in Australia, 300. 

‘‘ Trish Brigade ”’ ‘of France, 
208. 

Napoleon’s, 242, 246. 

Irish language. See under 
** Gaelic.”’ 

Irish soldiers, in foreign 
armies: of Rome, 15. 

—Austria, 208, 242. 

France and Spain, 
201, 208, 241-2 

——American army, 2175204: 

in Boer War, 290. 

in English regiments, 

227, 242,244, 

in European War, 206, 
208. 

Iron, 























188, 














introduction of, ro. 


James I, of England, 166. 
—II, 192, 106. 

IV, of Scotland, 140. 
Jesuits, 147, 15 

Jones, Michaer Coderell 184. 
Justiciar, office Of ae. 





Kavanagh, Art Mac Mur- 
rough, 119, 121. 


INDEX 


Kavanaghs, the, 108, 200. 

Kenneth MacAlpine, first 
king of Scotland, 44. 

Kildares, the, 114. 

ascendency of, 123, 130. 

power and policy of, 131, 

139, 143. 

Pal Or, 153. 

(See also under Fitzgerald.) 

Kilkenny, foundation of, 183. 

school at, 134. 

statute of, 120. 

capital of confederation, 

182. 

peace of, 183. 

Kincora, 51. 

King’s County, 143. 

Kinsale, Battle of, 164. 

Knocktow, Battle of, 138. 




















De Lacys, the, 75, 84, 92, 95. 

Lake, General, 234. 

Lally Tollendal, 208. 

Lalor, John Fintan, 276-7. 

Land system in Ireland, gg, 
100, 144, 172-3, 178, 244. 
247, 254, 267-9, 273, 275, 


310. 
Land Act of 1870, 272. 
of 1881, 270. 
of 1903, 286. 
——the first, 154. 
Land Conference, The, 286. 
Lanfranc, Cardinal, 59. 
Land League, foundation of, 


277,270. 
Landlord class, 144, 217, 266, 
285, 287. 
Land War, the, 277, 287. 
Laoghaire, King, 20,.27, 115. 
Larkin, James, 292. 
Lauzun, General, 196, 199. 
Law (English). 
Irish excluded from, 83. 
—O’Neill’s complaint of, 
to .Pope, 102. 
—conflict with Irish, 115. 
(See under Brehon Law.) 
Laws of Cormac MacArt, 14. 
Learning, Irish, 11, 20, 30, 
35-6, 39, 51, 58, 64, 69-70. 











317 

Learning, decay of, 168-70. 

Leath Cuinn and _  Leath 
Mogha, 15. 


Le Gros, Raymond, 73, 76. 

Leinster, kingdom of, 26, 45, 
I21. 

tribute imposed on, 45. 

** Liberties,” 85, 97, 124, 125. 

Limerick, foundation of, 46, 
48 





capital of O’Brien Kings, 





58. 
cathedral of, 50, 60. 

siege of, 188 

second siege of, 199. 

Treaty of, 201. 

Linen industry, 212-13, 245, 
O55) 27s.) 

Literary revival, 288, 28. 

Literature, Irish, 12-14, 
SSPE Tah 8 32 

Local Government Act of 
1898, 285. 

London, Corporation of, ac- 
quires Derry, 174. 

Lynch, Alexander, 168. 














MacCarthys, the, 58, 65, 81, 


107. 

MacCarthy, Cormac, 60. 

Fineen, 93. 

MacDonnells, the, 93, 95. 

MacDonnell, Sir Antony, 286, 

epee Thomas D’Arcy, 254, 
703), 

MacMahons, the, 108. 

MacMurroughs, the, 108. 

ne Rises Me Dermot, 71, 
108. 

Art Oge, 1109. 

MacNally, Leonard, 231. 

MacNeill, Prof. Eoin, 


292. 

MacWilliams, the, 106. 

Maelseachlain, slayer of Tur- 
gesius, 45. 

More. (See Malachy.) 

Maeve, 12. 

Mahon, of Thomond, 47, 48, 








68, 





49. 
canis the Great, 50, 51, 
58. 


318 


Malachy, O’Morgair, St. 60, 
61, 64, 

Manchester Martyrs, the, 270. 

March Law, 1109. 

Marshals, the, 86. 

Mary, Queen of England, 
eG ee he 

Mass, celebration forbidden, 
147, 154. 

Matilda, Countess of Lan- 
caster, 100. 

Mathew, Father, 255, 267. 

Maynooth, capture of, 142. 

College of, 134, 247. 

Meagher, Thomas Francis, 
256, 260-63. 

Mellifont Abbey, 62, 63. 

‘* Mere Irish,’”’ the, 112, 144. 

Middle Nation, the, 114. 

Mitchel, John, 256, 262-3. 

Martin, Richard, 267. 

John, 256. 

Monasteries, 
32. 

centres of learning, 64, 
109. 

Moore, Thomas, 243. 

George Henry, 267. 

Mountgarret, Lord, 161, 182. 

Mountjoy, Lord, 163. 

Mulcahy, General, 304. 

Mullaghmast, massacre of, 
152. 

Munro, General, 181, 183. 

Munster, 15, 26, 65. 

Murphy, Father John, 232. 








nature of, 30, 








Nation newspaper, 256. 

‘‘ Nation,’’ meaning ‘‘clan,’’ 
118, 

as used by Swift, 215. 

Nations, the idea of, 59. 

‘“ National Party,’’ 220, 241. 

Nesta, mother of the Ger- 
aldines, 72, 73. 

New Ross, Foundation of, 
84. 

Niall, of the Nine Hostages, 
Hsp ibis o8 

Noble class, 
of, 208. 





the Irish, loss 


INDEX 


Oakboys, the, 216. 

O’Briens, the, 65, 92, 93, 160. 

O’Brien, Conor, Last King 
of Thomond, 142. 

Donal, 76, 91. 

Daniel, Lord Clare, 1o1. 

Donough, first Lord 
Ibrickan, 104. 

——Murtough, first Earl of 
Thomond, 104. 

— —Murtough Mor, 509. 

William Smith, 
260, 262, 269. 

O’Byrnes, 108, 158. 

Obstruction, party of, 273. 

O’Cahans, 170-171. 

O’Connell, Daniel, 237, 245, 
255-64. 

O’Conors, of Offaly, 108, 138, 














257-8, 


147, 

O’Conors, Kings of Con- 
nacht, 65, o1 et passim. 

O’Connor, Cathal Crovderg, 
85, 90. 

Felim, 101, 104. 

Maenmoy, go. 

Rory, last High King, 70, 

Ziel Jeeu7 Osiae 

Turlough, 70. 

O’Doherty, Sir Cahir, 171. 

O’Donnells, the, 92, 93, 137. 

Calvagh, 140. 

Hugh Dubh, 140, 

159. 

Hugh Oge, 139, 140. 

Hugh Roe, 124, 132, 136, 

137,/1400)008 

Manus, king and poet, 

133... 

Neill Garv, 163, 171. 

—— Red Hugh, 167,166: 

Rory, Earl of Tyrcon- 
nell) 160 2 so0, 

O’Flahertys, the, roo. 

Olaf, the White, 43. 

Old Age Pensions introduced, 
291. 

Ollaves, 33, 36-37, 40. 

O’Leary, John, i 

O’Mores, the, of Leix, 108, 
147, 148, 152. 

O’More, Rory, 179, 180. 




















157, 

















INDEX 


O’Neills, the, 
92, et “passim. 
O’Neills of Clandeboye, 
et seq. 
O’Neill, Brian, o2. 
—Con Bacagh, first Earl of 
Tyrone, 132, 137, 138, 142, 
148. 
Donnell, his  remons- 
trance to the Pope, 1o2- 


103. 

Hugh, 
149, 158. 
Hugh Dubh, 


—Owen Roe, 


of Tyrone, 


107, 





the Great Earl, 


187, 188. 
501. 187. 














Sir Bryan MacPhelim, 
Tei 
Shane, 148, 151, 157, 162. 


Oxford, Irish resort to, 115. 

forbidden, 1209. 

Orange Order, 230, 237. 

Oriel, Kingdom of, 14, 26. 

Ormond, the Earl of, 105, 
See reA-D, 127.) 128," 194; 
faa rag Black “Tom ”’), 
155, 184 (Duke of). (See 
also Butlers.) 

O’Rourke, Tiernan, 70-71, 75. 

Ossian, legend of, 24. 

Orr, William, 231. 

Ossory, King of, 45, 57. 

O’Sullivans, the, 92, 163. 





O’Tooles, the, 108. 

morcor,. iLorcan (St. Laur- 
ence), 75. 

Pale, the, 124, 126, 132. 


et miis, grant of, 61,' 62. 

Paparo, Papal Legate, 62. 

Parliament, the English, 
ene importance, 178-9; 
184. 

under Cromwell, 180. 

in 18th century, 203, 210, 

after Union, 245, 251. 

——obstruction, 273, 2709. 

Parliament, the Irish, estab- 
lished, 97-8, 117, 126-7, 129- 
o (Desmond’s), 136 (Poyn- 
ings’ Law), 144 itt. 
Leger’s), 155 (Perrott’s). 











319 


Parliament under James I, 
178. 

of Kilkenny, 182. 

-———of James I], 1093. 

of William III, 2o1. 

in 18th century, 213-4. 

rotten boroughs, 220. 

its Protestant character, 

234. 

Grattan’s, 220-26. 

—passes Union, 237-30. 

of Northern Ireland, 305, 

309. 

Sinn Fein, 301, 306, 

of Southern Ireland, 305. 

Parliamentary Party, the 
Irish, 272, 280, 283, 288, 
290, 290. 

Parnell, Charles 
273, 277, 283. 

Patricks Seawto, 22. 

conversion of Ireland, QO. 

———'* Confession ’’ of} 18. 

and learning, 20, 21, 24. 

Peel, Sir Robert (‘‘peelers ’’), 
200,250, 250, 

Peep o’ Day Boys, the, 229. 

Penal Code, 203, 209. 

relaxation of, 222, 220. 

Burke, on its true pur- 
pose, 218-19. 

Perrott, Sir John, 155, 157. 

Saas Park murders, 280, 
281. 

Picts, the, 9, 28, 44. 

Piracy, suppression of, 179. 

Physical force methods, 260, 
264, 281, 289. 

Pitt, William, 228, 236, 247. 





























Stewart, 























 Plantations,’?): ‘Leixi #and 
Offaly, 147. 
——Clandeboye, 152. 
in Desmond, 155. 
in Ulster, 172-6. 
Cromwellian, 190-3. 


Police, establishment OF 250, 

Pope, position of in medieval 
Europe, 59. 

—St. Malachy’s visit to, 62. 

— Adrian IV, his Bull, 66, 
102-3. 


320 


Pope, Alexander III, his sup- 
port of Henry II, 103. 

the, Irish King’s remons- 
trance to, 102-3. 

Poor scholars, the Institution 

OF, 137, 88; 

Posuiaaoe of Ireland, reduc- 
tion of, 215. 

state of; 244,253, 275, 

growth and decline of, 














262, 265. 
Potato crops, 245. 
failure, 257, 261-62. 
Poynings’ Act, 136, 210. 
Presbyterians, the. (See un- 
der Dissenters.) 
Preston, General, 181, 182, 
184. 
Priests, influence of, 154, 


220;) (247) \2A8. 
Psalter of Cashel, 46. 
Prosperity of Ireland under 





free Parliament, 223-4. 
decline under Union, 
245 


Protestant ascendency, crea- 
tion of, 200. 
character of, 217. 








position of, 248, 268, 
287. : 
Protestants, emigration of, 


SIS, 2075) 205% 
Protective tariffs, 223, 245. 
Queen’s County, 148. 
Colleges, 250. 


Quin Abbey, 109. 


Rathmines, battle of, 187. 
Rathmullen, 158, 171. 
Rebellion, the Desmond, 
O’Neill’s, 160. 
the great, 179, 183, 187. 
of 1798, 231-3. 
——Emmet, 241. 
the Easter (1916), 297. 
Redmond, John, 290, 292-99. 
Reformation under 
St. Malachy, 60-3. 
—the Protestant, 145-147. 
Lipriseerapay: the counter, 
146. 





164, 

















INDEX 


Regency, The, 224. 

Religious division, growth 
of, 89, 145, 147, 153-4. 

orders, 29-30, 32, 62. 

Renunciation, Act of, 222. 

Repeal, 250, 252. 

Republic, Irish, 269, 297, 301. 











Revolution, The Irish, 275, 
277, 279, 287, 301. 
Richard II in Ireland, 120, 
TZ 
Ribbonmen, 247, 278. 
Rinuccini, ‘Cardinal, 183. 
Rome, Imperial, 134 eC ee 
16. 
centre of Christendom, 
590, 65, 66. 
sends Papal legate, 60, 
62. 


supports Henry II, 7s. 

















appealed to by Irish 
kings, 102-3. 

visited by Hugh O’Don- 
nell, 139. 

quarrels with Henry 
VIII, 145. 

opposes Elizabeth, 154. 





sends Rinuccini as Nun- 
cio, 183. 

opposed by O’Connell, 
247. 


St. Leger, Sir Anthony, 146. 
St. Ruth, General, 200. 
Saints, Irish, three orders of, 


20. 

Sarsfield, Patrick, 
201. 

Schomberg, Duke of, 197-8. 





196, 1098, 


Schools, early religious, 30, 
32, 35. 
Scoti, the, o, 15. 


Sea-ports, 77, 86-87. 
Sea-power, English, 
Senchus Mor, 46. 
Servitors, 174. 
Shireland, 85, 86. 
Shipbuilding in Belfast, 274. 
Sidney, Sir Henry, 153. 
Simnel, Lambert, 135. 

Sinn Féin movement, 280, 


292, 294, 297, 300, 300. 


162-3. 


INDEX 


Skeffington, Sir William, 141. 

Smuggling, growth of, 211. 

Soldiery, Professional, 70. 

Spain, intervention in Ire- 
land, 140, 153-5, 160, 163- 
4, 167. 

Spenser, Edmund, 156, 180. 

Strafford, Lord, 177, 178. 

Statutes of Kilkenny, 218. 

Strongbow, 72, 73, 83. 

Succession, laws of, 73, 127- 
128. 

(see inheritance). 

great earls, 127-128. 

Surnames, First use of, 58. 

Sussex, Earl of, Lord Lieu- 
tenant, 149. 

Swift, Dean, 204, 214-215. 

Synchronisms, Book of, 
Flann’s, 64. 

Synod of Athboy, 72. 

Cashel, 75. 

—Kells, 62, 70. 











Tailtenn, Fair of, 72. 

Tain Bo Cuailgne, 12, 64. 

iTalbot, Richard, Earl of 
Tyrconnell, Lord  Lieu- 
tenant, 192. 

Tanists, origin of, 127. 

Tara, seat of High Kings, 10, 
ae. 

Feast of, 32, 50. 

Tenant right in Ulster, 176, 
216, 268. 

Texel, expedition, 230. 

Thomond, Kingdom of, 1s, 
Fo I107, 123, 

Three F’s, the, 260. 

Tillage, discouragement of, 
(see Grazing.) 

Tirconnell, 26, et passim. 

Tithes, injustice of, 216, 210, 
ary, 

agitation against, 

Tollendal, Lally, 208. 

Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 228- 
30, 234. 

Towns in Ireland, monastic, 








250. 


30. : 
—Danish, 45. 


321 


Towns, centres of English in- 
fluence, 86. 

Norman organisation of, 

I10. 

[eaGh\ iit tar) 

medieval, 131. 

attitude to government, 
8 iy 

Treaty of 1921, 306, 309. 

Trinity College, 167. 

Turgesius, 41-3. 

Tyrone, Earl of, 150, 165. 

flight of, 170, 171. 

















Ulster, origin of name, 26. 
Kingdom of Ulaidh, 26. 
Ot Or 7b. 

plantation of, 171-6. 

inp t7S34222. 

in Revolution, 228-9, 232. 
opposition to Home Rule, 
292, 203, 207, 305. 

custom of land tenure, 
E700 210s SOO: 

Scots, 180, 183, 191. 


























Volunteer Forces, 221, 
023) 202,0205. 
‘“* Undertakers,’’ the, 155, 
ress ras 


Union, the Legislative, 234- 


4o. 
United Irishman, the, 289. 
United Irishmen, the, 228-09, 

240. 
University, PLE 

129. 
of Dublin, founded, 167. 
——Queen’s Colleges, 250. 
the National, 290. 


proposed, 








Valera, de, Mr., President of 
Irish Republic, 301, 306. 

Virgil, the Geometer, 31. 

Volunteers, of Ulster, 221. 

Convention of Dungan- 
non, 1782, 221, 292. 

——the Irish, 292, 293, 297, 
dee be 

and Conscription, 297. 

National, 297. 

Violence, conversions to, 249, 
264, 281. 











322 


Wages of Irish people, 254. 
Warbeck, Perkin, 136. 
Waterford, Danish 
hold, 45, 46. 
captured by Normans, 


strong- 





resists pretender, 135. 
Wexford, 45, 73, 187. 
Rebellion in, 232-3. 
Wellington, Duke of, 
249, 257-8. 
Whiteboyism, 216, 278. 
William II, 192, 1094, 201. 
William, Earl Marshal, 83. 
Windsor, Treaty of, 76. 
Wogan, Sir John, Justiciar, 
Q7- 








217, 


INDEX 


Wolsey, Cardinal, 139. 
Woollen trade, 210, 211. 
Workhouse system, 251. 
Writing, introduction of, 9. 
art of, 30. 





~~ “oe 


Wyndham, George, his Land | 


Purchase Act, 284, 286. 


Yeats, W. B., 280. 
Yellow Ford, Battle of, 161. 
Youghal, foundation of, 129, 


134. 
‘‘Young Ireland,’”’ 257, 260, 
263. 























































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